Touched
by Silhouetted Luminosity
Summary: After graduating college, Sarah Williams moves to New York City to "make it" as an actress. Unfortunately for her, fate has a different plan in store. From serial murders, to sorority rituals, to finally remembering what that long forgotten dream was all about... Sarah will be forced to determine if she can really "make it" when it comes to life itself.
1. Scene I

**Scene I**

 ** _October 2015_**

"Hey Quinn don't forget to text me the notes for the beginning of the lecture," Sarah mentioned to her friend as they descended the brick stairs of the English Literature department.

"Hey watch it!," quipped the redhead as some freshman boys pushed her to the side of the stairwell as they ran from what was probably freshman English and Comp. She adjusted her stack of books of Emily Dickinson's poetry. "Yeah yeah yeah don't worry about it Sarah. Let's just get some _sleep_. I still _cannot_ believe the professor just decided to make our class run until 9:45pm instead of 8:45pm. Not to mention we share the same hall as _idiot_ freshman." The last part of the sentence she yelled in the direction of the said freshman.

Sarah chuckled, then bristled as Quinn pushed the glass doors at the end of the hall open. The rough October wind pulled her long black hair into her eyes. The rustle of leaves could be heard in the distance.

"Ugh, can this fall be any colder too? And they say global warming isn't a thing."

Sarah nodded silently as the two made their way across the sidewalk towards the girls dorm rooms."

The sun had long set and the only light came from the flickering street lamps. An owl could be heard far off within the thick forest that surrounded the central campus.

A buzzing went off. Quinn checked her smartphone and giggled.

"Steve again?"

Quinn frowned and stopped, "Sarah are you going to be perpetually judging me over my arrangement with him?"

Sarah shook her head and exhaled, her breath materializing in front of her. The two fell back into step with each other, their feet crunching the dead leaves of deciduous trees.

"Hey Sarah?"

"Hmmm?"

"You seem a bit…distracted or frustrated? Are you already overwhelmed with all the assigned reading we've got to do this weekend?"

Sarah waved her hand in front of herself, "Oh no! I'm sorry. It's nothing."

Quinn studied her friends face for a moment. Satisfied she smiled.

"I mean if you say so. I mean I know I'm going to need some help delving into the 'author's relationship with nature' via a poem about snakes."

"Shit!"

Quinn started, "Woah what is it?"

"Crap, I forgot my notebook on the desk back in the room."

Both girls stopped walking. A gust of wind blew past, raising the hairs on both their arms.

Quinn rubbed her hands together and looked back at the building. She then pulled out her phone. It vibrated impatiently.

"Umm…" Quinn looked back and forth from her phone to the building. The fairy screensaver on her phone held an old clock that read **10:14pm**.

Sensing her indecision Sarah grabbed Quinn's arm and pushed it towards the opposite direction, "Hey no worries! Go get ready to meet Steve. I can run in and out. I'm sure there are some professors still mulling about anyway."

Quinn bit her lip uncertainly, "You sure? I mean you'll text me when you get back to our room?"

"Yeah for sure," Sarah nodded quickly. "Go get some!"

Quinn snorted and waved, "alright see ya tomorrow girl."

"See ya!"

At that, both girls turned and parted ways.

The glow of the October moon hazed with cumulous as Sarah quickened her pace. Walking alone late at night on campus was strongly discouraged. She could see why. It was extremely creepy.

Quickening her pace Sarah reached the glass doors she and Quinn had exited minutes before. A sensation of something brushing against the nape of her neck made her jump around.

"Must be the wind…" she mumbled to herself as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

She stepped inside the building. The glass door slammed shut behind her, echoing up and down the stairwells leading to multiple dimly lit hallways.

Adjusting her backpack, Sarah began climbing the three flights up to her poetry classroom. Every now and then she would flinch at a creak from above or a shadow shifting in the corner of her eye. Reaching her floor she began walking towards the classroom that held her notebook. Even though she had told Quinn there would be professors staying after hours, she could now tell that that wasn't the case. Room after room had the lights out. A pin could drop and no one would hear.

Or a scream _… no stop it Sarah_.

Relaxing slightly once she reached her classroom, Sarah turned the doorknob with a click and flicked the light switch on with a resounding snap.

Focusing her vision she honed in on her plain black spiral notebook. Reaching the desk she grabbed it and quickly shoved it into her canvas backpack.

Once complete, she turned towards the door. Suddenly the lights went off.

She blinked as she tried to adjust to the sudden darkness then sucked in a breathe at the sound of large footsteps heading down the hall.

 _Maybe it's maintenance. The power must have shut off_.

Sarah pulled her phone out from her leather jacket pocket: **10:29pm.**

After a few taps her phone flashlight sparked to life, illuminating the hallway entrance before her. The footsteps suddenly stopped.

Confused Sarah peaked her head outside the classroom door and called out, "Hello? Are you here to fix the light?"

Sarah flashed her phone in the direction she heard the steps coming from. Her brow creased when she saw no one was there.

Sarah shock her head, these night classes were getting to her.

She yelped when the hallway lights flickered on.

 _Please just stay on so I can get the hell out of here_ she silently prayed. Someone was apparently listening as the lights suddenly obeyed her and stayed on.

Sighing in relief, Sarah quickly shut off her classroom lights and closed the door. She shoved her phone in her pocket as it vibrated from a new notification. Ignoring it, she quickly made her way out of the building and made her way to her dorm.

Digging around her jean pocket she pulled out her plastic ID card. Making a face at her ID picture that looked more like a mug shot, she quickly scanned it and entered her room.

She flicked on the lights and threw her bag onto her red comforter. Glancing around she noticed that Quinn's side of the room looked surprisingly neater then usual. Quinn usually tried on, and threw off, around 4 outfits before she met up with a guy.

Remembering her promise to text Quinn when she got home, Sarah dug her hand back into her pocket. Pulling out the thin phone she pressed the home button.

 **10:38pm.**

Sarah noticed an unread campus security notification. It must have been the one she got back in the building.

 _Maintenance was probably saying a squirrel bit a line or something_.

Sliding the notification her corresponding app opened.

 _Students please be advised that Campus Blue Light Emergency Phone false activation can lead to heavy disciplinary action._

Shrugging out of her jacket Sarah quickly closed the app and quickly texted her roommate.

 _Hey I survived lol_

 _No axe murderers or creepos got me!_

 _Did you see that campus notification? You think those stupid frosh pulled that stupid prank of pressing the Blue Light?_

Not expecting a response Sarah clicked her phone off and plugged it in to charge for the night. Quickly throwing her long hair into a bun she grabbed some sweats and threw on a long sleeved fleece t-shirt.

Crawling under her comforter she shivered one more time before settling in. Her side clock red **10:46pm.**

Outside her window a tall evergreen gently swayed back and forth as a tiny figure farther down could be seen rushing frantically through the dense forest below.


	2. Scene II

Scene II

 **November 2015**

She couldn't believe she had lost the part. She had worked _so hard_ for weeks practicing her lines over and over again, reading background literature, and study character analyses. It figured that the one role she was practically _made_ for would be given to the producer's daughter. Talk about nepotism. Talk about life not being fair.

Sighing inwardly at her word choice Sarah Williams took another sip of her black coffee; the barista had said they were out of cream. The bitter hot liquid burned her tongue.

Outside the small warm coffee shop there was a mild snowstorm brewing. It somehow felt fitting that the weather should reflect her mood. It made her feel like she wasn't the only one suffering out in the world.

A rhythmic buzzing from her bag snapped Sarah out of her brooding. Digging her hand into her giant abyss of a tote, she finally felt the cool metal casing of her cell. Looking at the large touchscreen Sarah saw her father was calling.

He probably wanted to know how the audition went. Sarah hated to disappoint her dad, she would call him back later tonight with the bad news.

Hitting the "silent" button Sarah turned her attention back to the snow descending furiously down onto the pavement.


	3. Scene III

**Scene III**

 **January 2016**

Luke hated his job. But he hated hating it even more as he considered himself an extremist pacifist.

It had been about a year since he had received his degree in geology that he realized he was screwed. No one would hire him. All of the universities and museums that might have were either out of funds or had the positions already filled. In desperate need of a paycheck to start paying off his massive college loans, Luke was forced to turn to his older brother for help.

Don was happy to help his little brother. He pulled some strings and got Luke a job as an assistant to the biology department head at Caveat University, a West Coast school that Don was on retainer for. At this apparent stroke of luck, Luke had thought this would have been an easy temporary position. It turned out it was in the beginning, until Luke got transferred six months into the job. It was called a "promotion" for exemplary dedication, but all of the adjuncts and professors in the department gave him tearful hugs and pitying handshakes. He even overheard an elderly ecology professor mumble something about "poor millennials" to the Calc professor.

Luke didn't know what to think. The transfer required him to move to Central Campus, and begin work as the assistant to the Dean of the liberal arts program. As Caveat University prided itself at being highly selective and extremely expensive, Luke could only guess about the rich money polluted snobs he'd have to interact with.

Also, the dean was supposedly an ass who would do anything to maintain the university's prestige. Alison, a preppy blond adjunct once told Luke during a biochemistry lab setup up that the dean apparently was involved in some sort of cover up. Apparently it involved someone disappearing. "He like totally denied anything has happened and that campus security majorly screwed up," she mentioned while handing Luke some pipette tips, "No one even knows _who_ disappeared. Apparently the parents were paid off big time, convinced she had run off with some guy because she was knocked up or something."

Between being uprooted from his current life, and hearing this, Luke felt torn about taking the promotion. That was until he received his monthly student loan bill. Apparently someone decided somewhere that since he had held a job for a few months, he would now need to have his monthly payments doubled. Gossip be damned, he needed some financial stability.

So with that mantra being repeated over and over in his mind, Luke found himself standing in the middle of a large office with a glass wall that exposed a raging Pacific Ocean and the tallest Evergreen forest he'd ever seen. He was holding a stack of transcripts of hundreds of conversations that had taken place over a ten-year period. Transcripts that were hand-written and had to be typed up within the next two days.

Yeah, he really hated his job.


	4. Scene IV

**Scene IV**

 **November 2015**

After Sarah finished her coffee she headed to her small apartment in Chelsea. It wasn't a penthouse by anyone's standards, but Sarah felt comfortable in her one room studio covered by wrinkly 80s music posters and worn out wooden floors.

She decided to take a warm shower to calm the chill in her bones and then she rang up her father back at her old home in Concord, Massachusetts.

"Hey daddy"

"Sweetheart, how are you? How did the audition go?"

Sarah cringed inwardly. Her father, ever the lawyer, could be too much to the point sometimes.

"I didn't get the part dad, the producers daughter did."

There was a short pause, "Well honey, you win some you lose some. Does this mean you'll be coming home before Christmas?"

Sarah turned to her calendar hanging over her bed covered with a worn knitted blanket, "Dad, you know I have a few more auditions lined up."

"Yes yes sweetie I know, it's just that Toby, Karen, and I all miss you."

"Is that really why you want me home so soon dad?" Sarah said suspiciously.

"Well, I did get into contact with a friend in my firm and he mentioned a great masters program you could apply for. He's coming in for dinner next week. It's a great opportunity and you could start refocusing on your education and saving for yourself Sarah. Start saving for a car, or maybe for a house one day."

Sarah sighed. Her father, she knew, was a pragmatist at heart. The day Sarah's mother died he seemed to have lost something. Sarah only knew her mother for a few years before the illness struck, but she remembered them to be very happy times. Times when her father would spontaneously plan a road trip to Disney World, or dress up like the Frankenstein monster for Halloween to pass out foil-wrapped pennies.

Now all he did was work himself to the bone and sit and watch the news with Karen.

"Dad, I know you want to see me set up and not working at a Starbucks for the rest of my life, but acting is who I am."

"Yes, but Sarah, it's just not _practical_. There are so many talented girls just like you going out there and trying to make it only to come home with nothing to show for it. I know you want adventure and an interesting life but I think your being shortsighted sweetheart."

Sarah cringed at those words. "Dad, please. Have you been talking to Karen again?"

"Well yes Sarah, she's the one who thought I should discuss this program with you."

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. She knew that when her dad said everyone missed her he wasn't lying, at least to himself. But Sarah knew that if anyone didn't want her there it was Karen Williams. The harpy woman who stole her fathers broken heart and failed to mend it.

Besides, she didn't like the idea of being pressured to interview for some program.

Damned if she didn't and damned if she did.

"Okay Dad, fine I will be home for Thanksgiving. I just need to take care of the rent and my schedule at work."

Her father's tone brightened. "Excellent Sarah! I'm so glad you going to try this out."

Sarah cut him off, "Oh no, I didn't say I'd take, or even interview, for this dad. I just said I'm coming to visit. Don't get your hopes up."

Ignoring her warning, her father said his good-byes and promised to call later that week.

Hanging up, Sarah turned back to the calendar on her wall. Besides a few memos of lunch dates with friends and days off of work there were no other marks.

It took Sarah a few days to settle her affairs. Her boss, Merlin, wasn't too pleased about Sarah leaving early during the Holiday coffee rush but Sarah promised to be back as soon as she could. Merlin liked Sarah and knew she never slacked off, so he let it slide.

Sarah found while she was packing that she didn't have a whole lot to bring back with her. She took an old navy suitcase that she had traveled with to New York and stuffed it with a few sweaters, t-shirts, skinny jeans, and one or two dresses. Knowing Karen's love of holding fancy dinner parties, Sarah threw in a pair of heels as well.

Sarah decided, in order to save space, she would FedEx her Christmas gifts to the house before she left.

So here she was, in the LaGuardia Airport, staring at the blinking pixels that made up the city names and departure times. When she found her landing destination she trailed her emerald green eyes across the row of blinking departure times to the gate number.

Giving her luggage handle a jostle, she rolled her way to her plane. The airport, she found, was actually quite empty. She knew it was a Tuesday afternoon, but she was surprised. It was true, if her father hadn't gone ahead and booked her ticket, much to her chagrin, Sarah would have had to decline on making the trip. She noticed a few businessmen making their way to their own fate, talking into their Bluetooth's and compulsively checking their blackberry's for new emails. One of them almost ran into her.

The gate Sarah would spend the next hour waiting in was the standard collection of navy blue seats crammed together for capacity over comfort. Sarah took a seat that was positioned in front of one of the mammoth subtitled flat screens. She was going to continue rereading "Pride and Prejudice" but she didn't feel like digging into the bottom of her suitcase just yet.

The news was on. Sarah always found herself to be somewhat of a dreamer. She always found that the news turned her into a realist, and she didn't like that.

The programming today seemed harmless enough, however. There was a lost puppy found and a racist bus driver fired. As she stared mindlessly at the screen she didn't notice the tall large figure that was heading toward her. She jumped slightly when she felt the seat next to her creak.

"Hey did you drop this?"

Bewildered at the strange man's question, Sarah almost found herself looking around to see if there was someone behind her being asked the question. She didn't, however, when she saw that the stranger held her gaze.

The man must have been 2 or 3 years younger then Sarah, but twice her size. Though it wasn't his size that kept Sarah's attention. The man had the largest, most sincere, deep brown eyes Sarah had ever seen. She immediately felt comfortable. In his hand was the navy hoodie Sarah had tied to the handle of her suitcase.

"Oh yeah! Thanks so much. It must have slipped off," she nodded her thanks as he handed it too her.

"Wow, don't you find the news depressing sometimes?"

"Hmm? Um, yeah, though today's stories don't seem to be too cathartic."

The stranger chuckled, though it sounded more like a volcano softly rumbling.

Seeing her positive response, the man reached out a thick hand. Sarah tentatively took it.

"Luke's the name."

"Sarah Williams, it's nice to meet you. Are you heading to Massachusetts as well?"

"Sort of, I was visiting some family and have to make it to my new job, gotta move in and all that. Unfortunately, it's out West and I had to choose the flight with like six connections because it was the cheapest and plane fuel is apparently really expensive. What about you?"

Sarah smiled, "Oh I'm just visiting my family a little earlier for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen them for a while so…"

Her ellipse turned into a period as she waited for Luke to ask her another question. He suddenly had his face glued to the flatscreen.

"What…?" Sarah began to say, and then she turned her face to the screen. There was a video clip loop of a bomb hitting a rural town in some nation in the Middle East.

'"Damn this is depressing", Luke clambered up from his seat mumbling. He went over to the gates desk and spoke with the attendant.

Sarah found herself staring at the clip. There were now two people, a white woman and a black man, arguing in little squares.

Suddenly the screen changed to one of the many home decoration shows Karen watched. "How to build a birdhouse the neighbors will notice" was up next.

"Sorry about that. Sarah was it?" She nodded, "Yeah, I just can't take that stuff." Luke raised his shoulders with his palms open, "I guess I'm a sort of serial optimist."

Sarah smiled at the innocence of his gesture.

They both ended up talking and sitting next to each other the whole trip. Sarah found that she really connected with this seemly tough guy, serial optimist and all.

When the plane came to a grinding halt and the pair exited the plane Luke buried Sarah in a burly hug.

"It was so nice to meet you Sarah Williams, it has been a pleasure."

Sarah felt herself blush slightly, "Aw thanks Luke. The feeling is mutual, good luck with your new job."

Once he released her they both went their separate ways, him to his next terminal and her to a waiting taxi. As she waited for an elevator and leaned on her suitcase, Sarah wondered if she'd ever cross paths with Luke ever again.

The ride back to her old childhood home was relatively uneventful. Sarah found herself slightly jetlagged from the plane ride and spent most of the ride leaning her head against the cool glass of the taxi, looking out at the familiar scenery. It seemed the weather in Concord didn't seem to be any better than New York. All around her the little suburban town was covered in a four-inch blanket of snow.

The old park where she used to recite plays in her mom's old costumes was practically unnoticeable. The river with the pretty stone bridge had solidified completely. It didn't seem that her home had changed much at all, if only that was true about its residents.

The taxicab came to a jolting halt in front of the old white Victorian house Sarah had called home just a few months before. There were plain white lights strewn uniformly across the gutters from the lower level all the way to the top level of the house. On the front door there was a single green wreath with a red velvety bow. It was pristine. It was so completely Karen.

Sarah thanked, and paid, the cab driver after he emptied her bags from his trunk. The house had all of its lights on but no one came to greet her. She readjusted the knitted cap on her head and then proceeded to the front door. Standing in front of it, with all of her baggage, reminded her of the day she had left. Her father had stood disapprovingly at the front door; Toby had stood at the landing of the stairs peeking down at her. Karen just stayed in her room.

Sarah frowned at the memory. It wasn't like she had _wanted_ to leave them, it was just that she _had_ to. It was an impulse that she seemed to develop when she had turned fifteen. It was sort of a trade off she assumed. She stopped fooling around in the park and started taking acting lessons. She quit whining and fighting her parents and started hitting the books.

It didn't seem to be enough though, once she received her B.A. in acting at her local college a year ago she decided to follow the lead of a few other classmates and head off to New York. She and two other girls rented out an apartment in SoHo, got jobs, and began auditioning. Unfortunately, six months into their adventure, one of the girls got pregnant and left to live with her boyfriend and the other decided living in New York wasn't for her. That just left Sarah, who had been working exhaustively and auditioning nonstop until a few weeks ago.

Adjusting her navy suitcase to the side, Sarah raised her fist and knocked on the white door and braced herself for a similar scene from one year ago. To her surprise when the door opened it didn't reveal the disapproving stare of her father, but the weathered wrinkled scowl of a complete stranger.

Sarah started, "Who are you?"

The strange old man looked at Sarah and her bags for a moment then said, "Now that's not the right question, is it lass?"

"Excuse me? The right question? This is my dad's house, I'm Sarah Williams, his _daughter._ "

"Ah so you're the gal Richard's been mentioning."

Sarah looked up from the dwarfish man who was blocking her path and saw the tall frame of her father. His back was turned so Sarah yelled, "Dad!"

Richard Williams turned around and smiled. He began to stride forward towards Sarah when a pink mass blocked his path.

"Richard you _must_ come set the table. The food is almost ready," noticing Sarah's fathers distracted gaze Karen Williams turned around and gazed at her stepdaughter.

"Oh Sarah how lovely for you to _finally_ arrive. My goodness you are so very late, you're going to have to unpack later. Come inside quickly before Mr. Hogsmith catches his death dear."

Sarah ignored the tardy jab and began to lift her suitcase up over the entrance ledge. The newly identified Mr. Hogsmith reached over to help her, but before he could Karen shot a pink mitted hand out, "Oh no need to hurt your back sir, Sarah can handle her own luggage, can't you dear?"

Karen was smiling at Sarah, but it was the kind that didn't reach one's eyes. Wanting to escape the awkward situation Sarah smiled back bitterly, "Sure."

After a moment everybody left to the dining room and kitchen. Her father looked like he wanted to talk with her further, but Karen had nagged him back into the dining room to set the table.

The giant mahogany clock that stood in the foyer rang loudly, throwing Sarah back into reality. It was already eight o'clock. Taking off her black snow boots Sarah then grabbed the canvas handle of her luggage and stowed it in the coat closet. She could smell the scent of Karen's special Turkey dinner wafting through the hall. Sarah's stomach rumbled in protest. They must have forgotten to mention to that her father would be hosting an early Thanksgiving dinner for his law firm buddies.

"Come on feet," Sarah whispered to herself.


	5. Scene V

**Scene V**

It was a truth universally known around the small suburb of Concord that Karen Williams knew how to cook. Her reputation preceded her as she set in front of all of the guests a large robust turkey glazed with a delectable cranberry sauce.

Sarah adjusted the sleeves of her oversized blue hoodie that she had worn over her leggings for her flight back home. She had wanted to change the minute she noticed that her dad had not only invited Mr. Hogsmith, but also other well dressed guests from his firm. Sarah remembered being introduced to a few people named Lancastor, Dirk, and West. Frankly, looking around the dining table she couldn't put a name to a face.

Sarah looked down at her overstuffed plate and began to dig in. Her father and Karen were seated at the head of the table. Her dad was discussing a recent case with a solemn air about him. Karen was animatedly discussing her cooking with an older woman. Sarah figured she was probably a wife of one of her dad's co-workers.

As she took a bite of some steamed vegetables Sarah felt sorry for her little brother. Karen had informed Sarah before she took a seat at the back of the table, that Toby had already eaten and was off to bed. Sarah really wished he was awake because she wanted to see her cute blond 8 year old brother. Especially since he was having all these problems in his third grade class.

Whenever Sarah would call home her dad would mention how Karen kept complaining that Toby's teachers called him a "problem child". They said he would often remain unfocused on lessons and distract the other students. Sarah didn't like the fact that an eight year old could be deemed a "problem" at such a young age. Sarah herself knew that she was a handful just from some of the home videos she saw of her youth. She would often be dressed up in colorful makeshift costumes and have castles created from rearranged and blanketed kitchen chairs.

Lost in thought she set her knife on the edge of the plate. To her chagrin it lost its balance and fell onto the Persian rug that Sarah had always found a bit too ostentatious for her taste.

As she leaned over to get it the person next to her did as well. Their heads collided instantly and Sarah smarted from the contact.

"Ouch! Oh my I'm terribly sorry miss. I meant to grab your knife, not knock you unconscious."

Sarah removed her hand from her forehead and found herself looking into somewhat familiar deep brown eyes.

"I guess I could say the same," she responded with a chuckle. The helpful man looked like he was in his early to mid-thirties. He had a very sophisticated air about him, it did help that he was dressed in an impeccable black suit that had a stylish striped red and black tie. Sarah wouldn't be surprised if he had a business card that said "Lawyer and Renaissance Man." Regardless, the man seemed to make light of the matter, which was more than Sarah could see Karen doing from the corner of her eye. The woman looked like she wanted to shove one of her oven mitts down Sarah's throat.

Sarah reached for her knife from the man's out-reached hand.

"My name's Sarah, I'm Richard's daughter."

The man nodded as he readjusted his napkin in a sophisticated fashion. "Yes yes, of course. I'm sure you don't remember who I am from our quick introduction."

Sarah nodded sheepishly, "Mr… Lancastor?"

He chuckled, "Close guess my dear, except for the fact that Mr. Lancastor is that balding man over there who is about 30 years my senior."

Sarah smiled, "So I could probably sit here guessing all day, but why don't you save me the embarrassment?"

"Quiet right," the man cleared his throat and thrust a poised hand out towards Sarah, "My name is Don Brome and I believe that I am to be your interviewer for today."

"So, I didn't exactly print out my references to give to you Mr. Brome."

Sarah found herself sitting in front of the living room fireplace across from her interviewer. Sarah had to give Karen props for this. She had not expected the woman to place her strategically next to the man who might choose to accept her into this "great" English masters program.

"Oh call me Don. There's no worries, your stepmother gave me a copy when I arrived earlier this afternoon. She also took the liberty of printing up that incredibly interesting creative story you submitted to an online journal. I'm not big on fiction myself, but I found your usage of a heroic journey as a metaphor for growing up to be riveting."

"Oh," Sarah responded, dumbfounded at his response, but also how Karen had managed to find that story. A story that Sarah had written and submitted in hopes she'd get enough to cover the rent one month.

Don shuffled around some papers on his lap, holding one up, "it says you graduated in the top of your high school class. Valedictorian it seems… and then you went on a full scholarship to pursue a B.A. in acting."

Sarah nodded slowly, "Yes, I'm not sure if my father or Karen mentioned that. I'm sure your program wouldn't be interested in a trained actor…" _so you should probably just end the interview,_ Sarah thought to herself.

"Oh it's not _my_ program Sarah. I'm just interviewing you as an alum of the university. And I actually think you would be a perfect candidate for this program. The literature master's program boasts about accepting all kinds of diverse students. Some have bachelors in biochemistry and others spent a year working in the Peacecorp. Being able to see things from a different perspective can only be an asset."

Sarah blanched. She thought that once the guy had learned she was just a starving actress he would let her down easy and get someone more qualified. Sarah began to worry if she would have to reject an offer into the program. Looking at how dependent her father was to his work life, she wondered if she could screw things up with Don and her dad.

"So, um, my father never actually mentioned what would come next after interviewing."

"Oh!" Don chucked. It was a deep rumble that caused Sarah to smile along.

"We're doing things a bit out of order I'll admit. What I will say is that you look like a woman born of a creative soul. I would encourage you to apply for this program. If the admissions committee likes you as much as I do, you could ideally start this January."

"Oh, wow." Sarah started to feel a little out of her depth. Just _what_ had Karen done to get this to work?

Sarah smiled uneasily, "So I just apply then?"

Don smiled, his fox-like eyes crinkled mischievously, "Yes, you should apply."

"I mean this program sounds interesting. And I'm assuming the teaching assistance pay is… practical-"

"Oh, it is more than practical Ms. Williams,but I do think I forgot to mention the location, which I think you will be more than fine with from what your mother mentioned."

"She's my step- what did she say about locations?"

Mr. Brome frowned, "she didn't mention that the university is out on the West Coast?"

"Sarah!"

Both Sarah and Don turned at the shrill noise; Karen was standing in the doorway with her bright pink Stepford oven mitts on again.

She smiled hollowly at Sarah, "I'm _so_ sorry to interrupt your interview Mr. Brome, but could I steal Sarah from you for a minute?"

Mr. Brome shuffled in his upholstered chair, "Oh of course Mrs. Williams. Sarah and I were just about finished here. Sarah needs to simply fill out our online application and she'll be taken care of."

"Oh that is wonderful Mr. Brome. I told you Sarah is an _excellent_ student for the program."

"Yes, of course," Mr. Brome replied as he gathered his papers and tucked them away in his leather briefcase.

"Sarah dear, I need you to go say goodnight to your ridiculous brother. He refuses to sleep until you see him."

"Oh, um sure," Sarah turned to Don as he stood, "thank you for interviewing me. I will think about filling out an application."

"Quite right, I shall look forward to hearing from you Miss Williams. Thank you for your hospitality Mrs. Williams."

Karen smiled coyishly and Sarah glared.

The Renaissance man left after giving Sarah his business card.

Not wanting to start an argument before Toby went to sleep Sarah began climbing up the stairs to her little brother's room.

"Oh Sarah?"

Sarah turned at the footing of her old stairway and glanced down at Karen's beady face, "yeah?"

"I think Mr. Brome really thinks you're a wonderful fit for this program. I know it is quite a distance from home, but I think it might be good for you to go."

"Really now? "There's no other reason for me to be shipped halfway across the continent then?"

"Why of course Sarah."

At that Karen turned and walked back into the kitchen. Sarah resisted the urge to run after the woman and shove her pink oven mitt into her mouth. The grandfather clock in the empty hall struck ten and Sarah felt a sinking feeling in her chest.

 **A/N**

I'm alive! Apologies for the... 3 month absence?

Anywho, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Just to kind of preface, Jareth and Sarah aren't going to be meeting up for a few chapters. It's all about character/ scene building right now. Hopefully none of it will be too boring :)

I'm in the middle of med school right now btw, so my updates will continue to be few and far btw (I apologize in advance).

Constructive criticism is of course always welcomed here. Since my time to write is sparse I will probably make a few mistakes/ continuity errors here and there (lord knows the next few chapters I've written have been tweaked/ reworked at least 10 times).

Happy Labor Day!


	6. Scene VI

**Scene VI**

"Dad, why did Karen go to all this trouble?"

Sarah was sitting crossed legged on one of the bar stools in the basement den with her father across from her. She was hoping to get a word in with her father privately while Karen was preoccupied cleaning the kitchen, and also before she said goodnight to Toby. Her father was currently busy wiping out one of the many glasses that lined the bar countertop from the party.

"Well Sarah, Karen just wants what's best for you. So do I. "

" _Right_ ," Sarah injected roughly.

Her dad adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, "well yes, Sarah knowing your doing well off will make this so much easier for all of us."

"But Dad that's not fai… I mean, this just seems entirely _presumptuous_ on you guy's part. I mean, I have a life, another _job_ _ **.**_ I can't just uproot to another city. I mean I'm not the misbehaved little girl I was before with you and mo- with you?"

Sarah stared at her father pleadingly, hoping he wouldn't focus on her slipup but on her point.

Richard Williams sighed exhaustedly, "Sarah I didn't make Partner at the firm."

Sarah stared at her father, her eyes opening slightly, "is that… a permanent decision?"

Her father set a wine glass down, "no, but it means money is tight and we can't count on the funds for that fancy private school for Toby here. Also, it means I still have to… prove myself to the board. We're going to have to relocate temporarily out of the country."

Sarah stared at her hands, comprehension now dawning on her, "so you're sending me off to this school because you don't think I'm stable right now."

Noticing Sarah's shift in mood Richard looked at his daughter, "Sarah, if I put in a bit of time in the international side of the firm I'm guaranteed to make partner. Plus they'll pay for travel expenses, housing, and Toby will get the best education there is around today at a private school out in England."

Sarah sighed, "so off to the West Coast for me huh?"

Richard smiled, "Sarah could you do this for us? The school is extremely prestigious, you'll be writing again, and I'll know your safe."

Sarah stared at her father his entire demeanor was completely serious, yet with a hint of desperation. She guessed her father was remembering her mother again. Losing Sarah would be his tipping point, or at least that's what he thought.

"Okay, just let me think about it."

Once all the glassware was cleaned Sarah grabbed her stowed away suitcase and dragged it up the stairs and into her old room. While Karen had attempted to turn her childhood oasis into an exercise room, Richard had objected. It was one of the few times her father had actually stood up to Karen. Staring at her old Escher prints and colorful stuffed animals, Sarah was glad in a way.

"Sarah?"

"Toby!" Sarah smiled broadly as her little brother rushed into her room and swallowed her in a hug. Lancelot lay forgotten by his feet.

"Hey kiddo- ughh man your crushing me! When'd you get so big?"

Letting go Sarah looked down at her little brother. While leaving was the right thing to do, Sarah sometimes wondered if it was the best thing to do.

"Sarah, are we gonna be okay?"

"What do ya mean bud? Of _course_ were all gonna be okay. I'd never let anything happen to you." And she meant it. She'd jump through hoops, among other things, to keep her brother safe.

Toby reached down and picked up Lancelot, holding him close to his chest. "Mom said we have to move to England."

Sarah tried not to roll her eyes at Karen's bluntness, "Erm yeah I just heard that myself."

"I don't want to go Sarah, I _can't_."

Sarah signed, "You gonna miss your school friends?"  
Toby shook his head violently, " _No_ Sarah. I can't drink tea. I hate tea. Noel Stevens from class said all they have in England is tea."

Sarah snorted but tried to cover the sound with a cough. "Um Toby? I have it on good authority that England doesn't just serve tea."

"Really?" He little brothers eyes lit up at the apparently excellent news.

Sarah smiled, "Really."

"Okay. Well good," Toby suddenly became very interested in the teddy bears ears. "Hey Sarah, are you gonna stay in New York all by yourself when we leave? I heard dad talking to mom last night. He said New York is bad."

Sarah felt her chest constrict, "Ugh well I mean I've been there a while now Tobes. Nothing bad has happened."

Toby nodded silently.

"Ok bud. It's time for bed. Here I'll tuck you in before Karen catches us."

After kissing her brother goodnight Sarah snuck back into her room weighed down by indecision.

Early the next morning Sarah threw on some fuzzy Christmas socks and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She found Karen standing alone in front of the stove making fresh omelets.

Sarah stuffled a yawn, halfheartedly greeted Karen, and grabbed some orange juice from the fridge. Of course it was fresh squeezed and of course it was delicious.

Tapping her fingers against the condensing glass, Sarah looked up at Karen.

"So this whole dad not making partner thing has _nothing_ to do with Mr. Lancaster and you Karen?"

The women's back froze. The kitchen was silent, all except for the sizzling of the eggs on the skillet.

After a moment Karen reached over to add some shredded cheese to the pan. "Of course not Sarah. That was a long time ago, and that is _over_."

Sarah took another sip of her juice contemplating the women before her and whether or not she was speaking the truth.

Deciding it didn't change much either way Sarah got up and went to go wake up Toby.

A few hours later, after playing multiple rounds of MarioKart with Toby along with building a handful of snowmen and drinking probably a gallon of hot chocolate, Sarah curled herself up under a blanket rereading _Pride and Prejudice_.

She could hear Toby and her dad watching the _Charlie Brown Christmas Special_.

Karen, to Sarah's relief, let her well enough alone the rest of the day after their morning conversation. Sarah tucked the afghan closer to her as she felt a tingle of regret as to what she had inferred to the woman. Of course, there was no proof Karen had slept with Mr. Lancastor. Sarah had her suspicions still and considering the way Karen treated her… it seemed entirely plausible she was that kind of person.

 _Yet…_ Sarah glanced at the cover of her book.

 _Buzz._

Sarah broke from her revere and grabbed her phone. It was just her fitness app telling her she still needed 5,000 steps for the day. Sarah deleted the notification as she reached for a sugar cookie.

Feeling a tad inquisitive Sarah opened up her browser and did a Google search of Caveat University.

Apparently, the writing program there was the best in the nation. There were several famous writers listed on their wiki page, some of who's works Sarah had resting on her IKEA bookshelf back in her studio.

A couple more taps and Sarah found herself on the Flicker page of the university. Smiling undergrads looked back at her in front of a neo-gothic door arch. Behind them were towering evergreen and fir trees. It was definitely different from the concrete jungle Sarah had been cramped in for months.

A little more web digging and Sarah found she could get a concentration in film and media studies… in addition California was ideally only a couple hours drive from campus.

After a bit more searching Sarah came up with a compromise of sorts. Tucking her blanket and book onto her chair she tipped toed into the dark living room. Sarah smiled when she saw her family. Toby had fallen asleep during the movie and her father was gently petting his head.

"Dad" Sarah whispered.

He looked to the side of the couch and smiled at Sarah behind his thick rimmed glasses, "Oh Sarah sweetheart, what is it?"

Sarah motioned her father into the hall and he carefully extricated himself from her sleeping brother.

"Dad, I've done a bit of thinking about what we talked about last night."

"You've agreed to do it? That's great news Sarah!"

Sarah shook her head quickly, "Sort of. Listen, I think maybe a change of scenery would be good for me and Caveat looks like a great place actually. They have this film and media studies program I'm interested in-"

"They are also extremely prestigious Sarah" her father chimed in.

Sarah waved him off, "Right, I've decided to apply but _if_ I actually get accepted it will be for the Fall semester. I've got my lease still, my job, and I actually want to make sure whatever I send in my formal application is actually good. The writing samples Karen stol- sent him can definitely be improved."

He father's face fell a little, but after a moment he nodded, "Alright Sarah. I can get behind you on this I think. It's not ideal timing-wise but if it can't be helped…"

"It can't" Sarah said hurriedly, "if I'm going to do this I want to do it properly."

Richard Williams smiled and brought Sarah into a hug and he mumbled into her hair a thank you. Sarah hugged her father back and took note of how thin her father felt. The stress he'd never expressed was starting to physically manifest itself to Sarah. Her strong and stable father…

Sarah tightened the hug, "It's no problem dad. Love you."

"Love you too Sarah."

 **A/N**

Dun dun dunnnnnnnn! Sarah's off to college!

Speaking of overwhelming academic/ familial obligations, yay I actually updated within a reasonable amount of time!

We have a final exam this weekend (it's currently Saturday morning). I have basically all day today and half of tomorrow to learn EVERYTHING. My school has this cool thing where we can take a quiz on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The problem is that I've been struggling w/ the amount of content I need to learn in such a short amount of time that I've become a Sunday afternoon/night test taker. This essentially means I have NO weekend. Right after I take a quiz I have to start prepping for the next week. It's really not great considering I have quizzes basically every single week (we get only 2 weekends off). So it's fair to say that burnout will be coming. Let's just say memorizing the citric acid cycle isn't something I'm very thrilled to be doing XD

Okay venting over :D

Thanks to everyone who's favorited/ followed/ or commented so far! I really look forward to input and thoughts about the story.

Happy weekend (to those of us who actually have one that is lol).


	7. Scene VII

**Scene VII**

 **August 2016**

"Sarah Williams?" a bored voice asked behind the oak counter in the registrar's office.

Sarah looked up from her phone and saw that it was finally her turn. Grabbing her signed off class registration sheet she quickly made her way over to the elderly Asian woman who looked like she rather be anywhere then where she was today.

"Good morning" Sarah said.

"ID card and class list please," the lady said in monotone.

Being from New York, Sarah brushed off the rude tone and complied with the woman's request.

Sarah silently stood at the desk glancing down at her phone now and then as the registrar slowly typed in her registration information.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the woman got up and made her way into another room. Sarah figured she was printing out her final schedule.

"Sir!"

Sarah turned at the sound of the noise and saw a pretty blond woman in a black pressed power suit rush to catch up to an aging middle aged man with thinning grey hair.

He turned around to face the woman with an unhidden look of exasperation, "Jane, can you please refrain from this discussion in the halls please?"

Jane's cheeks reddened as she slowly nodded as she handed the harried older man a blue file. It was then that he looked up and locked eyes with Sarah for a moment.

Turning to the woman called Jane he said quickly, " I'll discuss _this_ " he patted the file with one hand, "with you later today, alright?"

Jane nodded and the two walked off down the hall in separate directions. Sarah stared off at the man's direction wondering just what was in the folder the woman had handed him? He was probably pretty high up in the university hierarchy if he had a secretary running after him like that. Though, it was probably some student affairs issue.

"Here you go."

Sarah turned and saw the registrar was back in her seat holding up Sarah's printed schedule and ID card.

"Thank you" Sarah mumbled and she perused the class list to make sure all 3 classes were accounted for. If undergrad had taught her anything, it was to always double check things.

She saw in freshly printed Times New Roman font her schedule for the next 4 months: Film Studies, Myths and Folklore, and a Thesis Research Elective.

Sarah felt a familiar bubble of excitement she used to feel back in her undergrad years when she was starting a new semester.

Her new advisor, an energetic woman named Beth, had helped Sarah craft her academic plan for the next two years. Sarah had recapped to Beth about her failed year in New York and desire to act. Beth had been encouraging to Sarah. Telling her that she should spend her time at the University cultivating other methods to tell stories. Through acting, writing, directing and much more. Not to box herself in.

After devising her semester, Sarah felt less trepidation, more than she would ever admit to anyone, about putting her acting on the backburner for a little while.

Sarah thought back to Karen. The annoying bird-woman may have gotten Sarah stuck out West far from Toby and her Dad, but damn if Sarah didn't make a success out of all this.

She proceeded to shove her new ID into her black leather wallet and stuff her papers into a folder. She gave a quick nod at the registrar and made her way out the thick oak doors of the admin building. She checked her phone; if she didn't hurry she'd miss her appointment with the guy who was supposed to take her to her new apartment.

"So you're the um maintenance guy or something?" Sarah mentally chided herself from almost saying "groundskeeper". She wasn't go to school at Hogwarts, though there definitely was something… _different_ about the area around her new apartment. Around the University for that matter…

"Yes ma'am, I've been maintaining this here piece of land for generations."

Sarah looked around the small apartment complex she would be calling home for the next few months. It was a small three-floor brick complex. Sarah noticed the overgrown flowerbeds, rusting windowsills, and lopsided chimneystack. The surrounding overgrown forest seemed to be leaning away from the aging building, like it didn't want to get too close. "Maintaining" seemed to mean something different here she thought to herself wryly. She'd have to ask her neighbors how troublesome it'd be. Maybe she could find another place…

She thanked the stout older man and began entering the structure.

"Oh miss!"

Sarah turned, her hand resting on the golden door handle, metal rusted flacks grazed her palm, "Hmm?"

The maintenance man's sobered somewhat, "Best not to lose that key. You're the only one occupying this complex for the foreseeable future."

"Foreseeable?" Sarah muttered confused.

The man shrugged, his heavy jacket rustling, "Sure. Semesters a'started and all the real estate close to campus has been occupied."

Sarah nodded slowly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable now that her idea of chatting up some neighbors wouldn't be happening in the "foreseeable" future.

She thanked him and made her way creakily up to the third floor apartment.

After jostling the key in the lock for what felt like five minutes, her apartment door finally budged open with a rusted groan. The first thing she noticed was the size. After living for over a year in a tiny studio in New York this was great. It was a spacious one bedroom apartment with a full bath, breakfast nook facing the thick surrounding forest, and a tiny, but efficient, kitchen. It even looked like the dilapidated fire stack was meant for her, since she saw a dusty fireplace on the left side of her bedroom.

A few hours later, after she had unpacked a bit, dusted a lot, and called her father, Sarah threw on a heavy fleece hounds tooth jacket, put her short hair into a quick stubby ponytail, and donned some black fall ankle length boots. She then grabbed her laptop bag and keys and quickly locked her room and started to head down the stairs.

BANG **.**

Sarah started at the sound, dropping her room keys with a clatter onto the dusty hardwood.

 _Maintenance guy?_

She stayed frozen for a few seconds, trepidation making her skin prickle. After what felt like an eternity she started to feel silly. Michael Myers wasn't gonna pop up her stairs and stab her to death. _Maybe another brick fell from the chimney…_ she reasoned to herself.

 _An old house inevitably means creepy sounds._

Feeling her adrenaline start to fade, Sarah collected herself and cautiously exited her building, wincing slightly at every creak of the wooden steps under her boots.

Ten bitter minutes later Sarah found herself on central campus. While not a bursting metropolis, she noted there was still a lot of stuff going on with the student community. Several booths were setup in front of the undergrad housing building, which itself was a towering Neo-Gothic structure with sinewy ivies and lush evergreens encompassing it in a strangled embrace. What appeared to be juniors and seniors were eagerly passing out club flyers. Sarah noted the savvier clubs were offering free food.

While not exactly a misanthrope, Sarah didn't really relish group activities or being hounded to join an acappella group. She made sure she walked further out on the freshly mowed campus lawn to avoid any direct interaction with the booths. Soon she found herself at the library steps. She smiled at the thought of the small café located in the basement level with free WiFi and unlimited refills. Not having the proper wires, or houseline, installed in her complex meant that the regional cable company couldn't hustle her into a money-sucking contract. Unfortunately, it also meant she had to do all her research at the library and could only make calls through her cell, which thankfully had service up in the bush were she lived.

"Hey Sarah!"

Sarah left her daydreams of warm mochas and uninterrupted Pandora streaming to turn around. An out of breath guy stopped at the foot of the steps and leaned down to catch his breath. Sarah noted he looked like the typical college heartbreaker. He was around six feet, had thick brown curls, and cool blue eyes. He was probably in a frat or something.

"Hey, yeah, what do you want?"

"Sarah, man."

Sarah felt irritation start to brim. Maybe this frat boy was part of some weird hazing ritual where he had to annoy a new student. Or maybe she was already feeling the effects of caffeine withdrawals. She hadn't had a cup since the airport…

"Yeah, _I'm_ Sarah. Sarah Williams."

"Damn dude!" the guy exclaimed not to brightly, "wrong Sarah. I swear you look sort of like her."

Adjusting her laptop strap Sarah mumbled she had to be somewhere and walked up the stairs. To her further irritation the frat boy followed her up and into the toasty library.

"Hey," he said awkwardly as he brushed his hand threw his thick hair. She self-consciously brushed a hand through her own thin black side bangs. "Names Steve. What year are you Sarah?"

Sarah stared longingly at the little used elevator in the back of the stacks that would take her to espresso heaven. "I'm a grad student Steve. A grad student with a giant paper due in a few days." Steve didn't need to know that her first class didn't even start until tomorrow.

She started walking but Stevey didn't seem to catch her hint, "Yeah well you know I'm really into-"

"Steve?"

The confident frat boy stopped suddenly, taking a step away from Sarah, looking a little like Toby did when he was caught eating dessert before dinner.

"Steve? What are you doing in the _library_?"

Sarah resisted the urge to snort and turned in the direction of the female voice. She almost did a double take when she noticed the girl before her. It was like looking back in time. The girl had large brown eyes, a pale oval face, and ink black hair. She now understood Steve's initial confusion, though the other Sarah's thick black hipster frames and waist length hair were apparently deviations Steve's hormonal brain had missed…

Steve chuckled nervously, "Hey baby, that history class I'm taking is actually making us take out a _real_ book to cite. I saw this chick," he pointed at Sarah casually, "cuz I thought she was you for a minute. Get this, her names Sarah too!" Jock Steve chuckled halfheartedly until someone studying off to the side shushed him none to loudly.

Doppelganger Sarah nodded slowly, seeming to buy Steve's easy lie. Sarah really didn't want to play relationship counselor, so she just smiled. Plus the elevator had just opened and a student walked past, a dark roast in hand. The heady aroma filled Sarah nostrils.

The Other Sarah, finally accepting his lie, turned to Sarah, "Wow you really _do_ look like me. My name's Sarah Weisman, senior Chem Major."

"Sarah Williams, English grad student," she mumbled the last part of the sentence, feeling somewhat inauthentic as she stated her college plans. "It was…nice to meet you guys but I really need to get some WiFi access."

Weisman nodded in half understanding as she made eyes at Steve, "Yeah this is the place for it… Steve you wanna help me with my calc homework?"

Steve nodded frantically and before Sarah knew it the two undergrads had left the library. Steve seemed to have forgotten the book he was supposed to have checked out.

Sarah shook her head.

Relationships were tough. She'd never had too much luck with them herself. Her bookworm-ish habits kept her from casually hooking up during college, and her dogged work and audition schedule had kept anything long term or real from blossoming in New York. She'd had her casual flirtations with cute guys auditioning with her or ordering a coffee at Starbucks, but nothing ever stuck past an awkward few dates. The guys, even the most promising one's, seemed to disappear off the face of the earth after a time.

She sighed. While meeting someone would be nice… in the end Sarah couldn't even still acknowledge that maybe acting wasn't in her destiny…

After getting her caffeine fix, and some casual web searching, Sarah had headed back to her place. She was surprised the temperature could drop below the 60s in the middle of August here.

She took a steaming hot shower and threw on her raggedy "Pink Floyd" T-shirt and some oversized black sweat pants. Still feeling ridiculously chilled to the bone, she started up her Keurig and prepped a bag of chamomile tea.

Holding the piping hot mug in both hands, she settled onto her window ledge facing the campus. Besides some street lamps illuminating the trek between buildings, not a person was in sight. Sarah wrapped up her mother's old afghan around her feet and blew on her mug thoughtfully.

She glanced at the old vanity mirror from time to time and bristled slightly at the hoot of a nearby owl, yet otherwise she was content.

Her nighttime gazing was suddenly interrupted by fragmented flashes of red and blue light shining through the thick foliage far off in the direction of the main campus. Sarah set her mug down and leaned towards the glass. _Did some stupid frat get a noise complaint or something? The semesters barely started!_

Thud **.**

Sarah screamed and jumped backwards onto the hard wooden floor as a black shadow crashed against her window.

"Ow, shit!" she exclaimed as her scalding tea spilled onto her foot.

Disoriented, Sarah didn't notice as three tiny shadows quickly slipped in from her bathroom window and stowed away under her dresser. She also didn't notice her phone's screen come to life with a campus notification. All Sarah Williams noticed was a fist sized crack on her rusty old window. A crack that was eerily at the same place her head was leaning against just a few moments prior.

 **A/N**

We're finally at the University! Huzzah for plot movement aka things are getting more exciting cuz it's not character/ scene-building but ACTION!

Shoutout to Sazzle76 for the kind words :D

Yes, I've survived the first 8 weeks/ weekends of med school and am enjoying my well deserved weekend off. It's crazy how fast the time is flying, but at the same time how it isn't lol

Anyway, thxs to everyone who's commenting, favoriting, following, and offering input. I'm trying to take it all into consideration to make this story work :)

I'm feeling kind of social right now, so if anyone has any questions (regarding the story, Labyrinth fandom, or life in general) feel free to hit me up: PM or comment or w/e and I'll find a way to get back to you!

Happy weekend guys!


	8. Scene VIII

**Scene VIII**

Just as the skittish President had promised, Sarah woke in the morning to another campus email recapping the new security restrictions that would be put in place for the foreseeable future. Checking her news app, Sarah saw a small story had been written up about the disappearance and subsequent murder of Quinn DeAmbrose. Sarah noted the authors name, wearily, as Jane Dunn. Was this Jane the same one the President was deflecting the other day? Was she on the University's payroll or something?

The little article went on to describe the October disappearance of the Quinn girl. Apparently, she was heading back from a night class to her dorm sometime in mid-October. Her roommate, left unnamed in the article, reported Quinn missing the next morning when she never made her way back. Besides a Blue Light Alarm being pushed that night, which campus safety had "properly" reacted to and investigated, there was no sign of struggle. People assumed the girl, who was a legal adult at that point, had decided to take some time off from the pressures of academic life. Her parents seemed to corroborate that fact, stating the girl had often run away from home for weeks at a time.

No trace of the girl was found until yesterday, apparently. The article glossed over the cause of death. Sarah had watched enough Investigation Discovery to assume that that was done on purpose to preserve the investigation.

The whole thing was still unnerving considering the lack of media attention, the implications that a murderer was on campus, and the fact that Sarah was practically isolated in her dated apartment complex. She was starting to worry that maybe coming to this university was a mistake.

 **October 2016**

Weeks past, the campus security detail lightened, and students' minds shifted from murderers to midterms.

While slightly more sensitive to the situation due to her living arrangement, Sarah, too, eventually found herself shifting gears. Of course, she now started carrying the pepper spray her dad had bought her, hurriedly, in her backpack. What good it might make in a dire situation, she didn't ever want to know.

The incident with her window never repeated itself, and without proper evidence of it even occurring, Sarah forced herself to just forget it had happened. For all she knew, a hunting falcon had run into the window by accident.

While that didn't account for the giant crack she saw magically disappear, she chalked it up to shock. No use driving herself mad.

Regardless, her master's program was kicking her intellectual butt and she was finding her thoughts otherwise preoccupied with long reading assignments and interesting storylines.

Sarah was walking next to her new Myth and Folklore classmate Margaret Nguyen. The girls had become fast friends and were currently giggling in the basement library café about how their Swiss professor had pronounced the word "giga" as "jiggal".

"I don't know if it's the sleep deprivation Sarah, but when Professor Aegerter said that?"

Sarah chuckled, "I have no idea, but it was hilarious. It's probably because he's always so serious. I had no idea someone could make stories of wood nymphs and fairies so serious?"

Margaret nodded, tucking her straight black hair behind one ear, "I know, it's almost like he thinks it's all real or something."

Margaret's phone vibrated suddenly against the wooden coffee table.

Sarah glanced at the caller ID, "You gonna answer this time?"

Margaret sighed, "Yeah. We can discuss the assignment when I get back."

Margaret slide out of her booth seat and went to go speak with her mom out in the basement stacks. With the dawn of ebooks, Sarah noticed that the most barren place on campus was the library stacks.

"Need a refill?"  
Sarah blushed at the baritone voice and glanced up, "No thanks Aaron. Maybe in a little while."

Aaron nodded and smiled down at Sarah, "Well, knowing your addiction, I'd put my money on a little while being more like ten minutes."

Sarah chuckled, "Well I better see you over here with a fresh pot in ten minutes then."

Aaron jokingly saluted and sauntered off to some other tables as Margaret slide back into her seat with an eyebrow raised in question.

Sarah raised her hands up in defense, "What?"

Margaret smiled knowingly, "Right. Play the ignorance card why dontcha Sarah Williams."

Wanting to change the conversation to anything but her coffee house flirtation, "So how was mom?"  
Margaret's playful smile fell, "She's… better. Getting more used to the idea of me studying Classics instead of Aeronautical Engineering."

Sarah nodded. Sarah had ended up befriending Margaret when she ran into her sobbing in front of the sink in the bathroom, near Prof. Aegerter's class, on the first day.

When Sarah asked what was wrong, Margaret ended up spilling her entire story to Sarah. How she'd been the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, and as a result was academically pushed to the point were she was able to attend Harvard on full scholarship. After that, her parents had expected her to attend an Ivy graduate school in some sort of STEM field. Margaret had majored in Applied Mathematics and hated every minute of it.

In an uncharacteristic moment of passion, Margaret had gone to a graduate fair and met a recruiter from Caveat's English masters program. "It was like fate," Margaret said as she wiped some of her bleeding eyeliner from her puffy eyes.

Once she had gotten in, and told her parents of her plans, both her mom and dad had stopped talking to her. After some help reasoning with her mom, through her Aunt, the two Nguyen women reconnected and were on rocky, but consistent, contact as of late. Sometimes Margaret's mom would lash out, and other days she would be more understanding. Margaret's father still refused to speak with her.

Sarah felt grateful for at least her relationship with her father. She knew even though he was thousands of miles away, and could sometimes be a bit too practical with his advice; he still supported her life choices. Also, while no longer with her to offer words of encouragement, Sarah credited her mother for her stubborn and persevering personality.

"Yeah, well either we keep talking about my mom, what's going on with you and Aaron, _or_ we actually start writing up an analysis of these Epic poems."

Sarah stared at the first one they needed to cover, _The Epic of Gilgamesh_. "Yeah okay. I see your point. Let's start with this one on page 105."

Margaret scrunched her nose, "Gilgamesh? I guess. Did you know that apparently after he died his people, like, buried him under a river bed?"

"Where'd you hear that?"

Margaret shrugged, "Wikipedia."

Several hours, and cups of coffee later, Sarah and Margaret started powering down their laptops and packing up their books.

As Sarah shut her planner and stuck it between some spiral notebooks, Margaret glanced at a flyer left on the coffee table next to them. She picked it up and flashed the flyer that said in bright neon orange bubble letters, "Halloween Party!"

Margaret did a little dance, "So we going to this tomorrow or what?"

Sarah laughed and grabbed the flyer, "Who's even hosting?"

"Some sorority I think. They're pretty exclusive from what I hear. This is the only time during the school year that non-members can hang out in there."

Sarah raised her brows at that, "Erm, wow. Sounds super snobby."

Margaret tugged her backpack over her shoulders and linked arms with Sarah as they began walking towards the elevator, "Well just think at all the mocking we can do while we enjoy _their_ snobby booze!"

"Hmm, excellent point Marge."

Margaret rolled her eyes, "Ugh, don't call me that _Sar."_

Sarah giggled as she pressed the "Up" button on the old elevator, "Fine, point taken." Sarah glanced at the "Take your health UP one step at a time!" sign and pointed, "Think we'll ever take those signs seriously?"

Margaret was busy waving good-bye to Aaron, "Huh, oh those? Hah, nope."

The two girls entered the elevator and Sarah blinked as she caught the sight of a very familiar pair of shoulders standing near the entrance to the basement stacks.

She stepped forward impulsively, but the creaky metal doors shut directly in her path and she felt her weight drop.

She swore.

"Sarah?" Margaret asked, looking at Sarah inquisitively after her out burst.

Sarah took a step back and tugged on her thick winter mittens shakily, unnerved, herself, by her outburst.

"Oh, I just thought I recognized someone standing by the stacks entrance…it was just my imagination though. There's no way he could be here."

Margaret bit her lip in thought for a moment, "Ummmm okay. Who is he anyway?"

Sarah shrugged, "Not really sure. Just someone I think I had a dream about years ago."

Margaret let out a squeal, "Oh my goodness, is he the _man of your dreams_?"

Sarah balked at the suggestion, "Marge, my eyes were playing tricks on me. There's no way- he's not even real."

"Okay then, I was just joking. You're the one hallucinating anyway…" Margaret said, dropping the subject.

The elevator door opened with a ding and the two girls went their separate ways outside the library steps. The air smelled damp and oaky. Sarah pulled out her navy umbrella and made her way back to her apartment, thoughts of things old tugging at her memory.

 **A/N**

Heyo! I finally had a day off from studying, so I spent it watching Netflix, drawing horrible pastel portraits, and getting this bad boy posted. Things are slowly, but surely, moving along in this story and in my life XD

I have a crazy 2 week block of intense studying coming up (we're learning about lungs now, yay!?), then I get a whole beautiful week OFF! Hopefully, I'm not too lazy and I can get a little more work done. At least to try to keep in the spirit of NaNoWriMo lol

Happy rest of your weekend to all, thanks for reading the story so far, and please don't forget to drop a review and whatnot :)


	9. Scene IX

**Scene IX**

Sarah stared at her reflection, in her foggy bathroom mirror, as she added more bobby pins to her flower crown. Satisfied the brisk October wind wouldn't blow it away, Sarah picked up her phone and saw that Marge had texted her a photo of her Halloween costume. Marge had somehow pulled her waist-length straight black hair into a hilarious $9.99 costume wig. Sarah noticed the lightning bolt in the hand opposite the one holding her smart phone.

She quickly texted, " _Zeus? Really Marge? Lol_ "

After a moment Marge replied, " _Hey, A: this is extra credit and B: Roommate just happened to have this wig lying around #nojudgments. What are you going as anyway?_ "

Sarah typed back guiltily, "… _Persephone_."

 _"OMG Sarah Williams! Mocking me for choosing a cliché Greek god and look what we have here #somuchjudgement"_

 _"Okay! Okay! Just stop with the hashtags"_

 _"#hashtag"_

Sarah giggled as she clicked her phone shut. She then adjusted her ankle length off the shoulder Greek robe in her dresser mirror. The material shifted softly as Sarah padded barefoot over to her fall boots. She quickly shoved some gladiator sandals into her backpack and made her way out, towards main campus.

* * *

Sarah exchanged a look with Margaret and then proceeded to drop off her critical analysis of Louise Glück's _Wandering Persephone_ as she made her way out. She was careful to avoid making eye contact with her aged professor.

"So is Professor Aegerter's some sort of Celtic Neopagan, or is it just me?" Margaret spoke in a hushed tone at the front steps of one of the towering stained glass windows paneling the narrow hallways of the English department building.

Sarah fumbled with her backpack strap, "I don't know? I thought he was joking before…"

"Well it doesn't help that he put you on the spot during class like that! I mean saying you were _touched_. Imagine if this had been a gen ed class or something?"

Sarah shuddered at the inappropriate and unwelcomed comments some of the post-pubescent jocks would have directed her way. Thankfully, their Myth and Folklore class was predominantly filled with female graduate students.

"Totally weird and awkward," Sarah responded as she nodded.

"Well, we should take our minds off our potentially perverted professor and head to that party!"

Sarah's brow knit, "What party?"

Marge threw her backpack down and dug around her front zipper enthusiastically, until she latched onto something, and threw it up in Sarah's face triumphantly, "this!"

Sarah grabbed the wrinkled flyer and smoothed it out. "Oh, that sorority party? I thought you were half joking yesterday."

Margaret grabbed it from Sarah's hand, "Um no. Come on Sarah! It's going to start in less then an hour. We only have to stay for a bit. I just need some free booze and banal conversation to rest my brain after all these midterms."

Sarah signed, defeated, "Fine. We can go. _But_ , only for a few. It's already dark out."

Margaret nodded studiously, "Yes mame."

She then grabbed her backpack off the floor, grabbed Sarah's arm by the elbow, and pulled her through the heavy, intricately patterned doors, and into the cool Halloween night.

* * *

Sarah and Margaret had made it to the stunning Apgar Sorority house party about an hour into its starting. When the two girls had clamored up the stone entrance, they'd been informed that the annual sorority rite of passage would be occurring in ten minutes.

Sarah thought that the whole "rite of passage" phrasing was a little too pandering. Hazing, though now considered too taboo a word, would have been much more apt to describe what Marge and her walked into in the backyard.

There must have been about fifty sorority members filed side by side in a massive circle. Each held a midnight blue candle in their hands, and each had a polar white cloak with a heavy hood obscuring their faces.

Margaret and Sarah found themselves being herded towards where the non-member partygoers were, and being asked to throw their phones into a paper bag that they could write their names on to grab later.

Sarah had given Marge an exasperate glare as she dropped her paper bag into a waiting basket held by cloak-clad girl.

"I swear Marge, if my phone doesn't make its way back to me…"

Margaret, to her credit, looked concerned herself, as she stared longingly at the phone basket being passed around, "Um, I'm sure it's fine. They probably don't want whatever they're going to do to end up on Youtube or something."

"Cuz it's a special club tradition that needs to remain secret? Or it's illegal? My money is on illegal, since this event is open to all of campus."

Before Margaret could reply, the clatter around the girls stopped. Looking around, the girls noticed everyone's attention was at the center of the circle. There, a stunning blond albino girl stood. Though, it wasn't her otherworldly beauty that had everyone's rapt attention, it was the pearl studded dagger she held up in the air in her right hand.

Sarah leaned over towards Margaret to whisper, "Who's that and why is she packing a knife?"

Margaret whispered back quickly, "That's, I think, Abby? Looks like she's the head of the house. Kind of cool, I've never met a person with albinism before."

Sarah glanced back at the pale girl's blood red eyes and felt a sick feeling in her stomach. She ignored the strange gut response to the graceful woman in front of her and leaned forward as the woman began to speak.

Her voice was high pitched, but rang with an authority that the smug expression on her face indicated she knew she had, and could enforce.

"Greetings pledges, visitors, and veteran sisters to this, the most spiritual of all nights! Today we shall hold our most sacred and venerated traditions to represent and show the unification of our house to the community around us."

At that, the girl named Abby sauntered over to the first sister at the apex of the winding circle. Another cloaked girl came running up behind Abby with what seemed to be a silver chalice.

Sarah shifted her head to get a better view and gasped quietly. Margaret tugged on her white toga impatiently, "Can you see? What's happening?"

"The chick is slicing their palms and dropping their blood into that cup. Dear god, they're probably violating _so_ many health codes."

Margaret rolled her eyes.

Twenty minutes later, the Abby girl had finally circled her way to the end of the circle. She then made her way to center of the circle and proceeded to mumble a few words under her breathe and pour all the blood she had collected onto the grass where a stone slab, Sarah hadn't noticed before, lay.

Once completed, the girl threw her white hood over her pale blond hair, masking her face from the crowd.

The circle then opened and several students started walking towards the heart of the circle.

Sarah started to ask Margaret what was happening, when suddenly a bunch of girls in front of her started moving forward as well. A taller girl then pushed her forward, "Hey move forward, you're next."

Before Sarah could ask what she was next for, or locate the now missing Margaret, she found herself, and other girls, being herded into the center of the broken circle. She felt herself pale at the thought that maybe she'd be required to, like, lick the bloody stone or something. If that were the case, Marge would be getting an earful later.

The hoard of girls finally settled and Sarah found herself almost right in front of the albino sorority who-thought-she-was-a-high-priestess. Up close Sarah realized the girl's blood red eyes were more of a pinkish hue.

"Potential pledges. Thank you for deciding to take part in our great ritual."

Sarah cringed as the girls muttered in perfect unison, " _Thank you, sister_."

The woman, Abby, who was still hooded, motioned for the girls to make a line in front of her, "today, as you wear our virtuous white, you indicate your purity of heart and intentions towards joining us in our great sisterhood. By making the same sacrifice our true sisters have made tonight, you will be one step closer towards enlightenment!"

Sarah mentally chastised herself for accidently wearing the white pledge's "purity color." The line she was moving in was moving at a brisk pace, and Sarah tried to find a non-awkward moment to slip out of the line. Unfortunately, as she looked around, she noticed that everyone in the stupid line was the center of attention. The current sorority members were staring, stoically, at the line members. Every so often they would bow their heads in unison. Sarah figured it was when a pledge had been pledged…or whatever they called it.

Not finding a good moment, Sarah suddenly found herself right in the beginning of the line, facing the bloody stone, which Sarah now realized was a shallow wide limestone basin filled with blood.

Later on, Sarah would regret having looked down at the crimson pool. Sarah hated the sight of blood. After her accident, Sarah had had recurring nightmares. Blood meant a lot of things to her, and it accordingly made her freeze up.

It was because Sarah looked at the blood, that the words she had practiced, to the tune of "thanks, but no thanks", on her way up the line were suddenly forgotten. Sarah felt someone next to her grab her limp wrist and hold it up. Before Sarah could say anything, the albino girl quickly brought her giant knife down towards her palm.

On instinct, as soon as Sarah felt the sharp blade bite her vulnerable flesh she jerked. Someone gasped. Sarah thought it was the girl holding her hand.

"Abby, you got her wrist!"

"Is she fainting?"

"Oh my god, my cloak is getting stained!"

Sarah felt numb. All the sorority girls yapping around her became lost in the forefront of the tunnel she was entering into. Fading away she briefly considered if throwing the bloody pledge chalice at Margaret Carrie-style would be suitable punishment for this.

* * *

"Dear god, did I just see a freshman just try to grind you in front of the punch bowl?" Sarah asked while giggling uncontrollably.

Margaret's olive toned cheeks redden slightly as she reached for Sarah's, now-empty, red cup, "M-kay I'm cutting you off honey. You're starting to hallucinate."

Sarah pouted and held her cup defensively against her chest, "Hey! And no no no," she poked Margaret shoulder at each punctuation playfully, "I totally saw that scrawny boy gyrating against you during that dubstep-techno thinggie. You almost spilled your drink on him! And here I thought I'd have to punish you myself. Looks like justice is being served by fate himself." Sarah set her red cup down on a polished mahogany side table, "Kay, I need to pee."

Margaret chuckled at her buzzed friend and waved her off towards the upstairs bathrooms, "Alright lightweight, we can leave when you get back. I'll be your designated walker to that creepy apartment of yours as my atonement."

Sarah giggled again, this time at a higher pitch then before, and clumsily made her way up the winding staircase. She almost reached the top step before she lost her balance and awkwardly gripped one of the pearl white side railings. Sarah noticed it had engravings of smiling cherubs, delicately thrumming mandolins, harps, and other various stringed instruments. Though, when she looked a little closer she noticed the baby angels' ears were slightly more pointed then what she thought should be normal…

"Sarah! There you are!"

Sarah looked up, annoyed she'd been distracted from her meditations on the artistic choices of the stairwell designer, and sighed. Loudly. " _Hey_ , Sarah."

Sarah Weisman helped Sarah up the last step and gave a forced laugh, "You know you can call me Weisman. I don't mind. There's like four other Sarah's in this house alone."

Sarah nodded, she knew this was the truth, as she'd met a few of them at the stupid ceremony she'd accidently participated in a little while ago.

"How's your wrist doing by the way? I didn't know you were so freaked about blood. Abby wanted me to check on you before you left."

Sarah rubbed her bandaged left wrist somberly as she focused on the vase behind Weisman's head, "Um, yeah. Crazy right? It's not really aching anymore though," she looked up at Weisman and gave her best-inebriated "I'm fine" fake smile as she could. "Yeah, no worries. I'm actually just trying to hit up the bathroom before I head out with Margaret."

Weisman smiled, looking relieved and pointed Sarah along to the restroom.

Sarah made a beeline to the directed door, entered, and quickly pressed the lock on the golden handle.

Sarah walked over the black and white deckled tiles towards the lavish sink. It had a stain glass bowl suspending out of an onyx bathroom cabinet. Sarah lathered some lavender scented soap onto her hands, being careful of her wrist bandage, and threw some cold water onto her pale face.

Looking up at sea foam green eyes, Sarah noted how tired she looked. Getting a little drunk maybe wasn't her best idea ever…

Still, how was she supposed to know that this silly Halloween party Margaret guilt-tripped her into going to would lead her into a freaky bloodletting ritual?

Remembering how she had woken up in some random sorority girl's room surrounded by cloaked girls, some of whom were still holding their lite blue candles- now melted down to stubs, made Sarah shudder as she washed her hands on a plush, pristine, hand towel. Again, her mind drifted towards Investigation Discovery's newest series: _Cults and Sacrifices_.

The last thing she'd want was to be another casualty at Caveat, like that girl. She wondered what her family would do if she wasn't around anymore. She figured Karen probably wouldn't be too torn up.

 _Tap tap tap._

Sarah jumped at the loud inpatient sounds coming from the bathroom door, "Someone's in here!"

"Hurry up! Sasha's going to vomit!"

Discarding her towel, Sarah quickly made her exit of the bathroom, making room for a rather noxious looking girl. Her friend, the inpatient knocker, was holding the girls hair up, already prepared for the vomiting onslaught that was soon to come.

Sarah shifted to the side to let the girls in, and as she turned to leave she overheard the drunk girl say "-but is it gonna be a Quinn thing all over again? Isn't it just _horrible_."

The hair holder shushed her friend as the door clicked shut.

 **A/N**

Look at me, uploading semi-consistently!

I figured, since all this political turmoil is underway in the US, an update might lighten up someone's mood. I, myself, am still pretty upset. So are a bunch of my classmates. The administration even extended our quiz, since pretty much everyone I knew couldn't sleep/ function the few days after the election.

Regardless, the plot is moving forward! PaleJewel1 did ask a good question a few days ago (besides being awesome and telling me school comes first :D ). The question addressed if the Quinn in chapter 1 and the dead Quinn in chapter 8 are one and the same. It's fair to say they are. There IS more to that whole situation, though. More shall be revealed in due time :)

I have one more midterm this weekend, and then I'm off for Thanksgiving. I'm hoping I can write/ update by the end of next weekend. If not, I just wanted to wish everyone a very peaceful Thanksgiving and (if your spending family time doing Black Friday shopping like me) a safe Black Friday.

If anyone starts political talk in front of the Turkey, try throwing on "Hello" by Adele (throwback to that hilarious SNL Thanksgiving skit from last year).


	10. Scene X

~ **Pre- A/N** : Trigger warning for some violence. Nothing too crazy, but I thought I may as well give a heads up. It's pretty clear where it starts to build-up. I can mark it more directly if need be.~

 **Scene XI**

"She mentioned the murdered girl?" Margaret half-whispered in the middle of the empty basement café.

After the previous night's fiasco, both girls were attempting to recover with some warm cups of French vanilla. Sarah had also had to ask Aaron for access to the café's first aid kit, to replace her soiled wrist bandage from the night before. Besides some bare essentials, Sarah was made poignantly aware of how little supplies she had in her apartment. It didn't help that she seemed to always be running out of food. She knew she was maybe eating more, since her stress level was higher, but she didn't think it was _that_ much.

Aaron, to his credit, had freaked out and thought Sarah had tried to do herself in when she showed him her arm. After some explanation, with the backdrop of a grinning Marge, he had offered Sarah the bandage. He even offered to apply it himself, much to Sarah's chagrin and Marge's satisfaction.

Sarah took a small sip, savoring the mild taste of her brew, " _yeah_. I mean it could be nothing. She just said how horrible it was, what happened…"

"But she said 'it's gonna be a Quinn thing all over _again_?' I mean," Margaret set her cup down, "it's kind of hard to debate the meaning of that."

"But isn't it? The girl could have been spewing random drunken nonsense, or maybe she's one of those people who gets dreams and thinks they're premonitions? It's all in the context, which I didn't have. I mean, plus, whenever something bad has, or is gonna, happen there's always those people who come out of the woodwork, wanting to sound important, who say they _knew_ or they _know_ this or that bad thing is _gonna_ happen."

Margaret looked doubtful, "So everything's just random coincidence, Sarah?"

"Well, I don't see any of those gods and goddesses Mr. Aegerter keeps going on about intervening, do you? Life isn't fa- life's tough," Sarah shook her hand from side to side, "but that isn't the point. The point is what that girl said was weird, but overall I don't think we can do much with it. Besides, I was pretty out of it myself," Sarah lifted her shoulders noncommittally, "it was just something interesting to hear is all."

Marge pursed her lips then shrugged, "Well forgive me for being more suspicious then you. I mean after the Quinn thing, this thing, and the fact that the name of our university literally translates to "warning…"

Sarah nodded, "Yeah, the name, now, seems a little on the nose doesn't it?"

Dropping the matter, the two girls continued their discussion of the night, and their upcoming finals, until Sarah got a notification on her phone.

"Speak of the devil," Sarah muttered.

Aaron, who had been busy wiping an already clean table nearby, came up with some more coffee, "What's up? You guys want more refills."

Sarah held out her mug thankfully, "Yes, please. And I just got an email from the neopagan, Aegerter, himself. He says he wants to meet after Thanksgiving break to 'talk'. What does that even mean?."

Margaret held out her empty mug as well to Aaron, "Well, maybe he wants to apologize for being a creep?"

Aaron scrunched his brows, "Creep?"

"Our esteemed professor said Sarah had been _touched_."

"Like, by a pedophile or something?"

Margaret spit her coffee into her cup at Aaron's tactless response, "Ummmm _no_ dude. By a fae."

The lost look on Aaron's face didn't subside until Margaret tacked on, "Fae as in, like, fairy."

"Oh, gotcha," Aaron pulled out some Splenda packets and put them next to Sarah's mug, "yeah that's… not really appropriate in a classroom setting."

Sarah felt her cheeks warm as she grabbed the packets and began shaking, and adding, the sugar substitute to her cup, "You're telling me. But it'll be a meeting after our next two classes, which he's not even going to be present for, so I don't think that's on his agenda. It might be about picking the theme for our final project, but I really don't feel like doing a whole one-on-one with the guy."

"He's not going to be there?"

"Yeah, he's posting the lectures online or something."

"Well, hey don't sweat it. Just make sure the office door stays open the whole time, and Aaron will wait for you. Just say you two have a date planned for right after."

Sarah and Aaron both turned to blanch at Margaret.

Sarah, flustered somewhat, put her hand through her straight hair, "I'm sure Aaron has better things to do."

Aaron turned to Sarah, his hazel eyes looking blue under the café lights, "Hey, I'd be cool to do it, but not just as a ruse to protect your chastity," he winked as Margaret laughed, "but for real as well."

Sarah could see the full moon beyond the reaching evergreens. It cast an iridescent glow within her apartment, casting dancing shadows with each gust of wind outside.

She unbuttoned her thick coat, and threw her thick boots off to the side. She shivered violently at the sudden cold of her room, and kept her coat on. She knew she kept the heater on as low as possible, to keep her heating bill down, but this was ridiculous. She turned on the light of her tiny foyer and went to adjust the thermostat, praying the heater wasn't actually broken. It must have been well below freezing outside, and she doubted she wanted to take her chances with starting a fire. She didn't even think she owned any matches. "If only there was an app for that," she mumbled to herself.

Sarah grabbed a small Philips screwdriver and unscrewed the plastic case protecting the thermostat. The case flung forward, the rusted metal hinge preventing it from clattering onto the wooden floor. Looking at the metallic dial, Sarah didn't notice any signs of damage. Yet, that didn't mean much since Sarah's hardware abilities ended at knowing how to use a drill. Unsure of how else to proceed, she just decided to pump the heat up and cross her fingers it would warm up soon. A warm shower was what she would get in the meantime.

She slipped the screwdriver into her open coat pocket, and went over to the bath to let the warm water run for a few minutes to, at least, heat up her chilly bathroom. Once she saw the steam rising from behind the curtain, she stripped down and shuddered in satisfaction once the warm water hit her body. Smiling slightly, she hummed as she washed away the grime of the day and began thinking about how to proceed with her final project in her film and literature class, and her possible date with Aaron.

While Sarah had not outright accepted his offer to take her out after her meeting with her creepy professor, she hadn't really declined either….

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

Sarah opened her eyes and pulled the curtain open to listen.

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

A phone? Sarah didn't see any landlines when she'd moved in.

Her interest peaked, she quickly turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around herself. Opening the bathroom door she noticed it had gotten a little warmer. The heat, at least, was working.

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

It sounded like it was coming from her kitchen, in a cabinet high above the fridge. Sarah reached up on her toes to open the cabinet while trying to hold her towel in place.

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

The phone looked like it was from the 50s. It had that traditional black glossy finish and the archaic rotary dial. Sarah, awkwardly, picked up the heavy receiver and brought it down to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked, tentatively, not sure what to expect.

"Hello, Sarah? It's good to see you found the phone. Who puts a phone line above the kitchen fridge? These old building around campus have the strangest layouts. Though I'm sure your no stranger to odd things happening around you, are you Sarah?"

Sarah's brow creased, "Weisman? How did you get this number." _Also why the hell was she calling at 10 o'clock at night?_

Weisman giggled, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you know that you left your phone at the café this afternoon. I was just chilling with Steve and we noticed you leave without it. I figured you'd be freaking out so I found this number. Steve mentioned he saw you lived up in that haunted apartment complex- which coincidently his older brother used to live in a few years ago. We sure are lucky this number still works!"

"Oh, um, that makes sense. Wow, I didn't even realize I had lost it actually." Sarah laughed weakly as she reached into her jacket that she'd thrown onto the kitchen counter. She found only some extra Splenda packets that Aaron had smuggled her along with the screwdriver she'd just used.

"Oh really? I'd be literally _dying!_ "

 _Right…_ Sarah thought to herself.

"Oh, okay, well thanks for reaching out. Can I grab it from you tomorrow?"

"Actually, Sarah, if you could come grab it from the sorority house tonight that would be awesome. I finished all of my stuff for the week, and don't have any classes tomorrow, so I'm leaving campus for the weekend early tomorrow morning.

Sarah glanced outside and made a face, "Can you just leave it with someone then?"

"Oh, no, I can't. I don't feel comfortable handing it off to someone. Plus, I'm sure you wouldn't either. These things are expensive right?

Sarah sighed in defeat, "Yea, okay. Um, I can probably head there in like 15? I just got out of the shower and stuff."

"Yea, that's fine. You remember how to get to the sorority house, right?

"Yea, yep, I remember."

"Great, I'll be up a little longer to pack, so just head here when you can!"

Sarah heard the beep as the call ended. She rolled her eyes up at the ceiling, annoyed at herself for being so forgetful. She was also annoyed that she'd have to venture out, again, into the bitter cold.

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah was cautiously making her way quickly up the stone steps of the Apgar Sorority House. She almost slipped a few times, and had jerkily gripped at the frigid, spiral designed, metal guardrails to slow her momentum. Her wrist, the one that had been sliced, was aching again from the motion.

When she reached the glossy, highly decorative, and towering front doors, Sarah impatiently pressed the doorbell. As she exhaled, she noticed her own breath leave her like some sort of floating specter. She suppressed the need to roll her eyes.

Her father always said she would end up losing them inside her head one day if she kept eye-rolling so much. She warmed a bit at the memory, feeling slightly homesick. Or maybe "family sick" was a better term?

Sarah's attention went back to the intricately carved door, and at the grating sound of a lock being turned and a chain being dropped. The large metal knob turned and Sarah found herself face to face with the sorority princess herself, Abby.

Feeling more then a little awkward, but way more cold, Sarah plastered a somewhat genuine smile on her face, "oh, hi Abby."

Abby smiled back, much more enthusiastically, as she open the wooden door wider to signal Sarah could come in, "Hi Sarah! Weisman mentioned you'd be stopping by. Something about a lost phone?"

"Um, yeah," Sarah said as she made her way into the blissfully warm entryway, "Left it in the library, stupidly. Just here to pick it up." Sarah motioned to the overly-dramatic winding staircase, "should I head up there or…"

Not skipping a beat, Abby motioned to a moderately sized room to the left of the foyer, "Oh, no need. You can hang here for a minute, and I'll let Weisman know you're here."

Sarah started to take off her knitted gloves and shove them into her coat pockets, "Oh, okay. Sure."

Abby disappeared up the staircase, and Sarah made her way into the waiting room. She realized that the space must have been the size of her entire apartment. It had a plush leather sofa up against a large bay window that oversaw a thick expanse of the surrounding forest. Sarah thought she saw an overweight squirrel make its way up a tree. The freezing temperatures that had suddenly hit campus, just the night before, had probably thrown the pre-hibernating squirrel off guard.

Sarah had kept her wet boots on, so she avoided getting on the pristine white rug that lay underneath the sofa. Instead, she made her way to a large bookcase. It seemed to be filled with old Apgar Sorority handbooks. Sarah absentmindly opened one, and flipped through some of the pages.

The sound of hurried whispers distracted her from a glossy page of sorority headshots from the 80s. To Sarah's surprise, she saw a few girls walk through the main hall, just before the staircase, into an adjacent room. From their whispers, and body language, Sarah noted a tense atmosphere around them.

More tellingly, however, was the fact that the house girls were cloaked in the white ritual garb from the night before.

Curiosity peaked; Sarah set the handbook aside, and started to head back into the foyer. She could maybe take a peak into the room the cloaked girls went into, feigning that she was just looking for the bathroom.

Just as she was about to meet the threshold, Weisman appeared.

"Oh, hey Sarah. Sorry for making you wait so long!" Weisman dug into one of her pockets and produced Sarah's phone, "I had a mini-emergency with an exploding bottle of shampoo in my luggage."

"Are you flying out somewhere?" Sarah asked, trying to make small talk, as she reached for her missing phone.

"Yeah, Stevie's taking me to his parents' vineyard in Napa for the weekend, he just the best right?"

Sarah recalled the leering jock she had met in the library, during one of her first days on campus. He wasn't what she would describe as 'the best' but…

"Um, sure. Hey, thanks for holding on to this, "Sarah raised her hand with the phone in it, " I'll see you around. Have a safe trip."

Weisman nodded and showed Sarah to the door.

And with that Sarah left the sorority house and quickly started the trek back to her place.

Five minutes later, Sarah was huffing and puffing her way back up to her apartment with only the moon, and her dying iPhone flashlight, to guide her way.

Back on the wooded trail, Sarah thought that she had heard a strangle rustling, only to turn around to find nothing there.

 _Relax Sarah. You're fine_.

She stopped a moment to steady her erratic breathing and almost jumped as she heard what she thought was the whinnying of a horse in the far off distance.

 _Must be the wind again_.

She began to press forward again, shaking her head at how skittish she was being, only to stop again. The horse-like sound was getting louder. The sound of hooves digging into the icy earth suddenly joined in.

 _Was there a farm or something nearby that had lost a horse?_

Sarah thought back to her drive into the University, the mountainous terrain was anything but horse friendly.

The sound of a whip hitting flesh reverberated across the surrounding forest. Sarah heard the flapping of wings, as some winter birds were disturbed from their slumber. Feeling a wave of trepidation overcome her, Sarah began sprinting to her apartment. The sounds of rider and mare were getting much louder and much closer to her from behind. She could see her place in the distance and began sprinting towards it.

After a few minutes she noticed the sound stopped. She took a moment to catch her breath and remained still to listen.

 _Maybe it was all in my head?_ Sarah wondered again. _First the window incident and now this?_ She felt like she was slowing loosing her grip on her sanity. Stories of young girls being spirited away and hulking creatures tearing men apart suddenly came to her. Why she decided to take that Myths and Folklore class was lost on her at that moment.

The sound of hooves suddenly emanated from Sarah's right, and she saw a looming shadow come at her from her periphery. She inadvertently redirected herself from her apartment as she yelped in fear and began sprinting again. Whatever was chasing her was coming up fast from behind.

Sarah, trying to maintain her footing, felt a rip in her coat as a branch tore at her. The deep burning sensation on the impact only spurred her deep-rooted desperation more. Sarah felt her lungs crying for rest, but the hooves only became louder. The horse started making louder sounds, as if frenzied at the scent of her blood hitting the thin air.

Running further into the deep white woods, Sarah scanned for a possible hiding spot. There was no way she would outrun a horse, even with the starting distance she had had.

Crying out in relief, she noticed a knotted tree. It appeared to have been struck with lightning and had its roots unearthed, leaving enough space for Sarah to squeeze in, and hopefully not be noticed in the shadows.

Diving down quickly, she slid into the branched crevice, shifting fallen leaves around. She quickly began trying to lower her breathing.

She heard the rider's horse make it into the clearing. She heard the hot breath emit from the winded beast. It inhaled and exhaled fast and deeply. Sarah curled herself into a ball and shut her eyes, willing herself to disappear and not be noticed by the rider.

Why the hell there was a rider in the woods _chasing_ her was a whole other question.

The sound of someone dismounting onto moist ground reminded Sarah where she was. Opening one eye she realized that she hadn't cleared her muddy foot prints, foot prints that led right into her hiding spot.

She held her breath, hoping the strange man wouldn't notice her boot prints. For a moment the rider stood still, scanning his surroundings. Sarah plead with any God that would listen.

 _Please don't see me. Please don't see me._

The creature suddenly began to trot away, in the opposite direction of Sarah. She stayed as still as she possibly could. The rider must have mounted and left. He didn't see her, or the trace she had left.

After waiting for what felt like a lifetime, Sarah realized that she was safe to leave. Breathing normally again, she reached her hands out to get leverage to pull herself out of the nook. She rubbed her numb legs at the foot of the tree, trying to ignore the pins and needles that prodded her. Looking around she didn't notice anything. She was safe.

It was then that an arm shot out from behind the tree and struck her from behind.

Sarah felt the branch making contact with the bottom of her skull. She blacked out for a moment, and felt the scream in her throat die out like a flame extinguished by the wind.

Falling to the ground, she cradled her head as she looked up in horror at her riding assailant. The man must have known that she was hiding _somewhere_ so he must have sent his beast away and waited for her to reveal herself.

The rider must have stood over six feet tall clad in black metal armor. He moved deftly towards Sarah, his eyes seemed to be almost _glowing_ a dark forest green. Sarah mentally chastised herself for literally walking into her own death. The harvest moon blared down at her, illuminating her stupidity for not waiting until sunrise to leave.

" _Faoiseamh_."

Sarah felt indignation, fear, and confusion as she retorted, "Get the hell away from me!"

The man let out an angered growl that reverberated throughout the empty barren forest. Sarah's intuition sparked. A feeling of familiarity struck her. This man was somehow _other_?

The _thing's_ green eyes bore a hole into Sarah as he dropped the branch he had hit her with, and instead unsheathed a glistening silver sword.

Sarah began crab-walking backwards in terror. The beast of a man was going to run her threw with a frick'in sword. Like it was the fucking middle ages.

"The hell!" she hollered as she rolled away from his first sword blow. Sarah rolled onto the balls of her feet and felt a cold metal prod her side. She suddenly remembered the screwdriver that she had stuck into her coat pocket earlier.

In one quick motion she pulled out the small metallic weapon before the rider could jerk his sword from the frozen earth.

He suddenly ran forward with a roar. Sarah desperately jumped to the side again, but this time he anticipated her. His arched his sword in an angle instead of straight ahead. Sarah felt the cool metal break through her heavy coat. A warm liquid sensation pooled around her bicep, telling her she'd been hit.

Losing balance, Sarah fell with a cry. She brought her hand to her bleeding arm and gasped. She felt sweat dripping from her face despite the subzero temperature. There was no way she was going to survive if she didn't get away. This guy was obviously well trained and apparently insane.

He began coming forward as Sarah jumped up and turned to run. She heard him grunt in frustration as she headed further into the dense foliage.

Holding the metal screwdriver with white knuckles, Sarah ducked and dived and zigzagged as much as possible, hoping the man would lose her trail.

She could hear his cries of frustration as he knocked into branches and tripped his bulky boots over roots. Sarah realized that she had at least some advantage in her torn jeans and ripped winter coat.

A few meters from where she was running, she noticed a break in the trees. It looked like the entrance to another clearing. Sarah's breathing started to become more labored. If she made it to a clearing she might be able to figure out just where she was and run for help- or get some cell service. The rider was probably stuck deeper in the woods, and without his horse she had a very good chance of escape.

Double-checking that the man really was out of sight, Sarah quickly turned to check behind her. It was then that her foot fell into an earthen groove. Sarah felt an electric pang sear up her leg as her ankle twisted unnaturally into the earth. Crying out, Sarah fell with a thud into the ground. Her weapon was knocked out of her hands.

Sarah jumbled to right herself when she felt a shock as a huge cold body impacted with hers. She angled her head and saw her assailant's green eyes turn blood red.

" _faoiseamhhhhhh_ _,"_ he hissed unnaturally.

Sarah let out a blood-curdling scream and she threw her fists at the possessed things' sneering face.

"GET OFF OF ME!" she screamed as she pounded on his armor ineffectively.

The man grabbed her thrashing hands and shoved them above her head, laughing menacingly.

He moved to straddle Sarah's hips as he released her hands.

Sarah's eyes widened in horror and she noticed his sword was nowhere to be seen.

 _The screwdriver_. Sarah's eyes widened as she tried to remember which way she fell. The thing couldn't have bounced too far off. Turning her torso Sarah began patting her hands franticly around her.

Grinding her teeth Sarah felt a rush of pure hatred as her hands met with the biting cold metal of her weapon.

Grabbing the household tool, Sarah turned back at the man. Sarah saw an entry point underneath his armpit where his armor did not cover. Letting out a scream she sank the screwdriver deep into her attacker's upper chest, hoping she hit some kind of artery. A flash of blue rippled across the man's torso, but Sarah's eyes were shut in horror at what she had just done, and what was currently happening to her.

With a shuddering breathe the man stilled and then fell onto his side, the screwdriver sticking awkwardly under his arm.

Sarah quickly threw his legs off her and jumped up. She stared at his unmoving form, half expecting him to jump up and continue his assault. He didn't move. Sarah's mind finally caught up to her and she fell to her knees. She felt the trees around her close in. She felt her chest tighten. _What had she done?_

Sarah turned her face from the dirt and back to the creature. Her eyes widened as she notice he began to glow red. He looked like the coils in a convection oven slowly preheating. He got so bright that Sarah had to cover her eyes.

Suddenly, as if his body hit some critical threshold, the man's glowing red body disappeared. Leaving no trace of him, but for the metal screwdriver, which fell a few inches with a clang onto the frozen earth.

Sarah stared at the frozen patch where her attacker had been. She didn't know if she was in shock or suffering from a concussion, but she stayed there kneeling, staring, for what felt like an eternity.

She didn't snap out of her stupor until she felt the cool trailing of a set of tears running down her cheeks. It was then that she broke down sobbing.

She had taken a life but the body was now gone? What even _was_ he? What was he trying to do to her? Kill her? He could've sunk his sword straight into her when he had caught her on the ground, why was she even still alive?

Sarah's cries had her bent over, forehead almost touching the ground, questions rushing through her mind. After a minute she settled onto her back and felt her head clear a little. Rubbing her shuteyes with the back of her hand as she began to feel lucidity come back.

It occurred to her that whatever had attacked her could have friends. She really didn't want to stay and find out.

On shaky legs, Sarah brought herself back up to a standing position. Keeping her eyes trailed on her surroundings she quickly picked up the fallen screwdriver. She almost dropped it when she noticed how warm it felt.

She tucked it away and made her way to the clearing she had been running to.

Once there, she realized that she had been running in a wide arc through the woods back in the direction of the main campus.

She shuddered as she closed her winter coat around herself, not from the cold, but from the realization that broken windows and winter riders were perhaps signs that parts of a long forgotten dream were indeed becoming a reality again.

 **A/N**

 **I have returned! (sort of). Hopefully, not everyone has forgotten this story XD. Apologies, if you've forgotten what's happened earlier (I know I had lol). Schools been** ** _very_** **busy. I've, finally, got a handle on how to study and whatnot (too bad there's only a few more months of it :'( ).**

 **Anywho, I'm posting this long (for me at least) chapter, cuz I finally made a minor break-through plot-wise, and I felt comfortable locking this part down. Yay action/ stuff actually happening!**

 **I know there was a lot of character and world-building stuff, but there's finally gonna be "some" answers coming about WTH is going on at this school. Also, you know, possible GK appearances ;)**

 **I hope everyone's summer is going great, and please be aware that an update may or may not pop up within the next few months. I'm still on track to finish this (eventually), but it'll take some time.**


	11. Scene XI

**Scene XII**

"Hey Dad, how are you guys?"

"Sarah? You sound different, is everything okay?"

Sarah sat on her queen-sized bed, covered with her old afghan blanket, a steaming cup of chamomile tea in one hand and her cell in the other.

She blew at the tendrils of mist rising from her cup as she reflected on her dad's question.

Was she okay? Just a few weeks ago she had been chased, assaulted, and almost murdered. Yet, she fought back, presumably killed her attacker, and there was no body or trace left to prove it had happened.

When she had gotten home that night she had immediately barricaded her front door, shut her blinds, and torn off her sullied clothes.

They now lay on the floor in the exact place she had left them that night, yet completely repaired. No blood stains, no rips, no popped buttons.

No doubt a side effect of the magic that was currently in effect.

Too bad whatever magic eraser was at work hadn't healed the superficial slash mark she had on her upper arm.

Regardless, did she sound as different as she felt?

"Yeah, no, I'm fine dad. I just… miss you guys is all, with it being Thanksgiving and stuff. How's Toby doing?"

Richard, seeming to believe his daughter, chuckled lightly, "he's doing well. He's just discovered British crackers and I think your stepmother is going to have a stroke when she see's all the wrappers he's left in the living room."

Sarah smiled ruefully, wishing she was there to watch the scene unfold herself instead of… here.

After a few more minutes of small talk, listening to her dad complain about all the rain and remark on a case or two, he said his good-bye's.

He promised to call back so Sarah could talk with Toby, who was currently out shopping with Karen.

The call ended and Sarah threw her phone to the side and took a sip of her tea.

Her peace was short lived, as she reached over for her vibrating phone. She wondered if Toby had already made his way home and was calling her back. When she checked the caller ID, she noticed it was Marge calling

Sarah hoped it wasn't because Marge and her mother had had another huge blowout- they were both vacationing with the rest of Marge's Vietnamese family down in California.

"Hey Marge, what's going on?"

"Oh my god, Sarah, I'm so glad I reached you. You need to check the local news asap."

Sarah set her teacup on her nightstand and opened her side drawer to grab her laptop.

While booting it up and tapping her cell's hotspot feature to "on" she asked, "What the heck happened Marge?"

"Look," Sarah could here several loud voices in the background, "I don't really want to get into it in front of my parents, plus we're all heading out to eat lunch. Just check the local news webpage and I'll text you later."

Margaret hung up and Sarah dropped her cell into her lap.

She had loaded the local news webpage, as Margaret had instructed, and saw the cover page filled with a giant bold headline posted two minutes ago that read, "Caveat Killer Turned Serial? Another Body Discovered."

She quickly scrolled through the text underneath the headline.

" _Local police are investigating a gruesome discovery not far from the prestigious Caveat University. Someone working in the area found a man's body shortly after 6am this morning._

 _The county examiner's office will perform an autopsy to try and determine a cause of death._

 _The death raises suspicions as to if the University, and the surrounding community, are dealing with a possible serial killer. The authorities have commented that an investigation has started, yet there currently is no link between this case and the unsolved murdered of collegiate Quinn DeAmbrose._

Sarah scrolled down further on the page to see if there had been any updates. Her stomach dropped when she came across a photo of the victim.

Her hand covered her mouth as she zoomed into the pixelated photo stolen from a recent facebook profile picture.

The guy whose body was discovered just this morning, his name was Luke Brome.

Sarah stared dismally at the cop cars parked in front of the neogothic liberal arts building. She figured the police were probably debriefing the skittish President, Dr. Avery, about new campus security measures that should take place.

She wondered if the president could sweep this murder under the rug with his press connections like he, probably, did with Quinn.

It had been just one day and Sarah still couldn't quite grasp what had happened. After reading and re-reading the short article about Luke's death, Sarah had gone on a google spree trying to figure out just who this guy was, why he was here, and who had killed him.

The first major surprise Sarah had found, simply on his facebook page, was that Luke Brome was actually the little brother of Don Brome; the lawyer, part of her father's firm, who gave her her interview last November.

It didn't take much of a leap to assume that the job Luke had been talking about starting, during their shared plane ride, had been at the same campus his esteemed brother was an alum of.

Sarah was kind of surprised they had never run into each other, though the campus was pretty large, and Sarah only haunted a few key spots in order to avoid undergraduate hysterics.

After figuring out how Luke got here, Sarah spent a little while simply clicking through some of his photo albums. Based on his pictures Sarah could definitely see his love for science and nature. There were pictures of him out in a desert somewhere looking up at the stars with a telescope; another had him in some sort of natural history museum pointing excitedly at the biggest gemstone Sarah had ever seen.

Sarah felt her eyes well up for the second time in 24 hours.

Poor, kind- eyed, Luke. Just what had happened to him?

Sarah's thoughts reeled to her own encounter, with the glowing green-eyed creature with the disappearing corpse.

Disappearing corpse…

Could it be possible that she hadn't really killed that thing? Instead it was just scared off?

 _Or attracted to something else. Or someone._

Sarah felt a combination of emotions.

It was a lot to process, and she still didn't know what her next steps should be. Obviously something _very_ wrong was happening on campus.

Whatever it was also seemed to have links to her past.

She rubbed her arm absentmindedly. There was only a trace of where the sword had slashed her bicep. It was starting to scar over.

She found herself staring at the cop cars, half wondering if she should phone in an anonymous tip about green-eyed medieval assailants and wild horses roaming the forest around campus targeting unknowing students.

Grimacing at the idea, and likely outcome, Sarah made her way over to the library.

It wasn't like she hadn't thought to do something similar a few days earlier. It was just…impractical. Sarah knew how law enforcement worked a little through her dad's work. The cops would think she was just another grad student suffering a mental breakdown due to lack of sleep and too many caffeine pills.

It was for this reason, that she had nowhere to turn to, that Sarah had holed herself up in her apartment, out of indecision and fear, when the attack had occurred. She had even asked Marge to room with her. One look on Sarah's face and, no questions asked, Marge had stayed with Sarah. Sarah was grateful for the lack of prying questions. Marge had told her that, whatever had happened, she could tell her or not tell her. It didn't matter.

The support was nice too, if not a crutch, but Sarah quickly realized that the only way she'd find some semblance of peace again would be through action. So, with that in mind, she made a game plan.

Once Sarah made it to the library, she headed over to the bathroom. She walked over to the sink and began washing her hands. Since that night, she probably scrubbed her hands ten times a day or more. She couldn't shake the weird tingling feeling her hands felt. Temporary disrupting the nerve endings every few hours with scolding hot water was her only relief from the odd sensation. She let the hot water run over her hands for a minute before glancing up at the aged mirror in front of her.

 _Should you ever need us…_

Sarah winced, and removed her hands, as the faucet water turned freezing cold.

She shook her hands for a minute, feeling incredibly irritated at the schools ancient plumbing, and her own stupid thoughts.

Thoughts she had clearly locked away until they had been so roughly brought back into the light of day.

Sarah, since that stormy night so many years ago, had made a both conscious and unconscious effort to never think of, or speak of, the Labyrinth again.

She was starting to realize that maybe that wasn't the wisest course of action.

Still, it didn't mean she was about to go calling creatures from the other side that she had, at just sixteen, decided were her "friends".

Sarah turned and left the bathroom and headed to the basement café. Aaron didn't have a shift at this hour, thankfully, so Sarah headed to the entrance of the basement stacks. She passed a couple of stressed out students tapping away at their laptops.

Those stacks were the first place she had decided she was going to scope out. It was the place she had thought she'd seen the guy, the Goblin King, hanging around at. She'd chucked it up to her eyes playing tricks on her, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

She opened the stacks door and turned the blinking fluorescent lights on. Sarah never felt more of a cosmic joke then now, when she read the copper plate on top of the first set of stacks read, _"Myth and Folklore Collection."_

 _Of course._

Gathering her nerves, Sarah spent the next hour walking around, half expecting her knight of living hell to pop out. After that didn't produce anything, she started pouring over old texts, trying to read up on the creature she had seen, or find an inkling of things about the Labyrinth she had run. When she came to the more foreign parts of the collection, she defaulted to looking at the pictures, trying to find something she could recognize.

After her twentieth sneeze from the dust, Sarah slid down to sit in one of the far back rows, defeated with the first part of her plan. She checked her phone for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She kept hoping more news about Luke's death would come up. She still didn't even know if Luke died because of a freak accident or something. Also, maybe the creature _had_ really died? She had no way of knowing any of this.

Her phone came up with nothing, of course. Sarah clicked it off and leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

"Why are the lights on in here?"  
A pause. Sarah's eyes jerked open at the voice and she felt her adrenaline start pumping at the surprise. She stared at her hand for a moment. It was shaking slightly. Freaked out at her over board reaction, Sarah clasped her hands together and shoved them into her lap. She then turned her attention back to the sounds coming from the front of the stacks.

"Yeah, whatever. It's fine. I just need somewhere we can talk. No one comes down here anyway."

Sarah, a little calmer, started to recognize the voice from somewhere.

"Look, I want to leave the house," the voice said hesitantly.

Sarah heard a slight in take of breathe, "are you _insane_? You know how many girls would kill for your spot? Why on earth on you thinking this? Is it cuz of that night?"

The other girl, who now Sarah was certain was at that sorority party she'd attended a few weeks ago, starting playing with her jacket zipper. All Sarah could hear for a few tense moments was the nervous zipping and unzipping of the metal teeth.

Finally, the girl broke the pause, "Okay, I'm not the only one who found that super freaky, right? I mean, I came here and joined the house because my mom was a part of it years ago. I'm a legacy. I wanted to join a _house_ not some wannabe cult."

The other girl sighed, "Look, Shannon, what happened that night was just a little ritual that meant nothing. We've been doing it since Abby got here, and honestly, it's all in good fun."

"But what about the candles going out? The fact that Abby starts speaking in a weird language?" the girl named Shannon said warily.

Sensing her friend's doubt the other girl chuckled nonchalantly, "the candles are just silly parlor tricks and Abby's just speaking Irish or something. Her family was from there, so she knows how to speak a little I think. I overheard her say it makes the whole thing more 'authentic' or whatever."

After a little more back and forth the girl, Shannon, seemed to back off of the idea of abandoning the house. The girls' conversation then veered towards mindless gossip and an upcoming term paper. Sarah restrained herself from sighing loudly, as her butt was starting to hurt from staying frozen on the floor, in the same spot, for so long.

After what felt like an eternity, the girls finally made their way out, turning the lights off after them, and shutting the stacks old wooden doors.

Sarah waited a few tense moments before she turned her cell phone light on and started making her way out. The stacks around her were casting eerie shadows that kept moving as Sarah shifted her phone between her sweaty palms.

Just as she reached the handle of the door to the café she felt someone's breath hit her ear from behind.

"Hello, Sarah."

 **A/N**

BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMM!

Wow, 3 months later and I'm sort of back? Hope everyone's summer was awesome btw. Mine was busy working in a lab discovering science ;)

A side observation, I think I'm a masochist. I had a busy, but MUCH more manageable schedule this summer... and yet I feel like editing/ writing this right when classes start up again? IDK. Maybe I'm just crazy.

ANYWAY, I'm thinking of having another update around October (perfect time of year for this story!). That timeline issue I had a while ago has been muddled through, and now I'm getting to more explanation-type stuff. Hopefully I can work it out in time to post more, but we shall see.

Welp, though I'm inconsistent with posting, at least I'm persistent :D

Happy September and as always Read/ Review :)


	12. Scene XII

**Scene XII**

"Hello, Sarah."

Sarah violently jerked around at the sound of her name and struck her hands out in front of her, in defense, as she quickly leaned back into the door, pushing it open quickly.

She miscalculated how fast the door would fall open, however, and she landed unceremoniously on her butt. The dark entrance of the back stacks, suddenly illuminated by the fluorescent hallway lights, showed no signs of an assailant.

Sarah stared on the place where she had initially been standing for a few moments, almost expecting to see a flash or twinkle or… something.

 _Maybe she was just going mad._

Sarah broke her gaze and felt the inside of her boot with her shaking hand. She settled on the cylindrical shape of the Phillips screwdriver, which she had used only a few weeks ago to defend herself. She had begun keeping it on hand since the incident as a sort of reminder and comfort. So far it had fulfilled one of its uses.

Stumbling back up onto her feet, Sarah glanced around to make sure the two sorority girls hadn't witnessed her wipeout.

Coast clear, she began trekking her way back towards the Café, unnerved.

She smiled ruefully at the fact that she had come to the space looking for answers, and she had actually gotten some. It seemed utterly too convenient, but Sarah would take any information she could get.

Whatever had happened the night Luke was murdered, and she was attacked, coalesced with some sort of ritual that the sorority house had attempted. The story checked out, because Sarah remembered seeing nervous cloaked girls running around when she had picked up her lost cell phone. They must have been heading to some area to do the weird "ritual" that Abby led.

Ritual…

Sarah had learned all too well that words have power. Maybe it was possible that those party girls had said some words of significance that brought that creature into this world. Why _they_ weren't sent the other way, she didn't know.

She made her way to the café and paid for a small coffee. The undergrad manning the cashier managed to handle the whole transaction without taking her eyes off her Facebook messenger app.

Sarah made her way over to a shelf that stored the cream and sugar. She reached for both to start adding to her coffee.

This whole affair was getting complicated.

And what was _she_ supposed to do?

Demand Abby show her the ritual rites she had read and then…what? Undo the incantation? Cast her own spell?

She stared at the clouds forming in her cup of coffee.

Was the fact that she had made that mistake so many years ago… did that contact with this Unknown make her suddenly responsible for all the future fallout regarding it?

Her mind shifted over to the creepy comments Prof. Aegerter had made about her being "touched". Was it possible that she _had_ been? Maybe somehow a target was put on her back? She knew about the stories of mortals eating fae fruit, or staying too long where they shouldn't be, or touching the wrong thing…

She groaned inwardly. It looked that her discussion with the professor in a few days would really end up being about more than her academic progress.

She stirred and capped her coffee, not even bothering to put a sleeve on it. The burning cup seethed and soothed her tingling palms.

 _You sure you don't want Aaron to come? I thought you two were vibing super well? Does it have something to do with what happened a few weeks back?_

Sarah's brow creased after reading Marge's text. She wanted to tell her friend why she was turning down the cute café boy. She wanted to tell her why she was suddenly okay, even eager, to meet with their creepy professor. She was desperate to tell her about the attack and how her nerves were still shot.

Unfortunately, she couldn't.

The supernatural airs regarding all her circumstances made fessing up impossible. Marge was open-minded, if her ardent obsession with watching Discovery Channel's _A Haunting_ was any indication. Of course, she wasn't _that_ open-minded.

Aaron was a whole other story. Sarah couldn't imagine asking what she was going to ask the professor with Aaron just a few feet from the office door. Plus, depending on what she would find out, she doubted she'd be game for any sort of date after.

She decided to be semi-honest with Marge, and she texted back: _Yeah, something like that. It's no big deal._

She locked her phone and tucked it away before Marge responded back.

Making her way down the narrow tiled hallway of the humanities department, Sarah shifted her eyes across each passing door number.

 _2020… 2021… 2022…_

She finally settled on Dr. Aegerter's room number. The wooden door was shut, but the frosted glass pane above the doorway indicated a light was on.

Sarah took a breath in and knocked softly. A muffled voice from inside said something close to, "come in!", so Sarah did just that.

Standing at the precipice of the dimly lit office, Sarah got a good view of her eccentric professor. He was wearing a pair of thin wire-rimmed spectacles, and had his head bent over a giant tomb.

His office was of a more cozy size, though the amount of books, stacks of paper, and various old artifacts made it more claustrophobic then anything. The professor, not bothering to look up from his book, motioned Sarah to a lone leather chair in front of his oversized mahogany table. Sarah thought its legs shared the same intricate spirals and designs as the Sorority house staircase.

Making her way to the chair, she almost tripped on a thick evergreen rug. Catching herself, she then had to wrestle a stack of papers from the chair seat. Once she'd finagled some room, she sat down, only to find her butt falling a little too deep into the plush chair cushion. She glared at the professor for a moment, as he still didn't bother to look up from his book. The dude was being rude.

After what felt like forever, he sighed, and shut the hard leather cover of the book with a thud.

He then folded up his glasses and glanced up. Sarah swore his face went pale.

" _Miss Williams"_ he rasped.

Sarah's brow creased as she glanced on the old-timey clock on the desk, "Yes, professor? I didn't get the time wrong, did I?"

The professor had already leaped up and headed to shut his office door.

Sarah's heart rate sped up in surprise.

She calmed as the professor made his way back to behind his thick, dividing, desk.

He started digging in a drawer for something.

"Professor?" She asked again, this time her voice I little higher pitched then she'd have liked.

Prof. Aegerter looked up again, Sarah noted he looked distressed and had a light sheen across his wrinkled forehead.

After a moment, the old professor sighed in relief and latched onto something in his drawer. Sarah straightened up a bit more from her saggy seat. It appeared the professor was holding some sort of pendant in his left hand.

A _very_ familiar pendant.

Now it was her turn to act alarmed, "Where did you get _that?_ "

Noting now _her_ alarm, the professor quickly set the pendant down and lifted his palms up as if retreating, "Please Miss Williams. I- I know I broached this subject with you before," he adjusted his spectacles nervously, "perhaps, not in the _best_ of venues. Regardless, I can't assume your obliviousness at this stage any further." When he said "this" he motioned towards Sarah's entire person.

Feeling her fear being replaced with confusion, and a little vindication, Sarah lowered herself down into the chair that she hadn't noticed she'd begun to rise from. She took her eyes off the offending object lying, now on the oak table, and cleared her throat.

"Yes, well, if I think I understand what subject you were trying to broach before- and I'm definitely wanting to know what "this stage" is referring to…" She clicked her tongue, now _she_ was the one being cryptic and confusing. This would take all day if neither one of them were going to say all the right words outright.

Frustrated, she just blurted it out, sanity be damned, "I want to know why you said I was _touched_ a few weeks ago."

The professor, unfazed, responded, "You were touched then, and you are even more now. That's what I meant when I referred to your stage."

"Touched," a pause, "Touched by _what_ professor? How can you even tell?"  
The old man leaned back into his crimson leather chair with a creak, "The origin of this ability of mine has no beginning, as far as I know, beyond my birth. As to what I'm even seeing, it's hard to describe, only really to be felt. Yet, I know. You've been touched by the fae folk my dear. In other translations, it could also be interpreted as being _claimed_."

Sarah swallowed.

The professor paused.

Sarah kind of wondered if the professor had done this before. Not the telling a graduate student she was claimed by mythical creatures part, but the "he had special powers" part.

A few awkward pauses occurred. Sarah noted the professor had leveled out his composure from his outburst earlier. He didn't seem at all phased about revealing himself to her.

Before the room became too stifling with the silence, the professor suddenly carried on the discussion.

"There has been something lurking in these lands for quite a while now."

"What thing?" Sarah responded, not expecting him to take the conversation suddenly there.  
The old man put a hand over his face, "Just over a year ago, I don't know what. I just felt it- or more of an effect of it? Unstableness, really. Then that girl went missing, and all was right again."

"But?" Sarah prodded.

"But, the thing, the energy, the trees the dirt the roots. Everything felt… unstable again."

Trying to loosely connect any dots, and ignore the surrealness of the conversation, Sarah offered, "Did everything settle again recently?"

An unspoken question lay on her lips.

 _Did things get better when Luke was murdered?_

The professor nodded slightly, "Yes, it's settle again. Though not to the same degree as before, but… things still feel unresolved. Almost as if there is still some sort of _hunger_ still permeating the air."

Sarah nodded slowly, comprehension dawning on her.

She started to rise from her seat.

The lone stained glass lamp flickered on the desk, ominously.

The professor stood again, this time more slowly, his faced looked more tired, "You… do not believe me Miss Williams? Or are you simply retreating? I assure you, these dreams you keep waking up from are as real as the very hands you clench."

Sarah glanced down at her whitened knuckles, and released them. He was right, she was retreating. But she didn't want to hear what she knew to be truth. She had killed Luke by not dying.

"Your contact with fae _has_ marked you, dear girl. It has marked you with a target. There is some disturbance occurring in these lands, some balance being upset. The land is simply trying to reorient itself, but it leaves causalities in its wake."

"Professor, you're trying to tell me that the land is magical, and it's conjuring some freaky knight to go and kill people to steal their life energy or something?"

The professors' fuzzy grey brows furrowed, "It's a knight you say?"

Sarah's resolve faltered, "Yes, you said that didn't you?"  
"Miss Williams, it is of vital importance that you tell me what you saw. Your aura _has_ changed since a few weeks ago. I didn't notice how drastic until you came so close in my office. What happened to you my dear?"

Sarah stared at the old man for a full minute. Did she want to tell this man things that her rational mind kept discarding? He had already put himself out there to a degree…

Sarah argued within herself for a moment. One part of her wanted to talk for the vindication that her dreams and her realities were one and the same. Another part wanted to continue the idea of walking out of this room and keep rationalizing and rethinking and remolding what she had experienced, and what she had probably caused.

The professor reached a hand out, pleading, "My dear, when monsters start knocking, the absolute worst thing you can do is ignore them."

She looked away, her fingers tingling again, "Why? Won't they go away?"  
"No," the professor whispered softly, "they'll just find another way in."

 **A/N**

Hey guys!

Sorry about the (almost) 2 month mini cliff-hanger! Hopefully this new chapter makes up for it! And it was posted only a smidge later from my projected posting time (I think I said late October).

Things in school are winding down right now, though they are gonna get crazy in December (we're gonna start working in the hospital XD ). Anyway, point is, you guys might see 1-2 more updates before the new year starts. After that, I've no clue. I'll be working/ studying 6 days a week, and then I have to take this huge standardized test. I won't have much free time from January up until probably June :/

Anyway, as an aside, anyone suffering from SAD? OMG, it's so MUCKY were I live right now. The total lack of sunlight has just made me so "blah."

Welp, read/review, and I'll see you guess in the next installment :)


	13. Scene XIII

**Scene XIII**

 **A/N**

I'm so glad I checked what got posted. I think FanFic had a stroke, cux what got posted what NOT right lol (it was like HTML script or something). Hopefully, this worked XD.

 **Enjoy**!

She told him. She told the old man her _entire_ story. The labyrinth, the goblins, her friends, and her most recent experience with the black knight.

Instead of freaking on her, or mocking her, the man just sat in his chair and nodded encouragingly. He did seem to clench his jaw at certain parts of her tale, where she described life-ending peril, and, interestingly, at parts regarding the ballroom dance she'd been forced to attend.

When she was done, she let out a huge breathe and was still. Nothing happened for a few moments. He was processing, and she was decompressing.

Finally, he spoke, "this explains so much Miss Williams. I am sorry you had to bear through all of this, especially at such young ages. I can't blame you for wanting to walk out just now."

Sarah nodded, her eyes welling up a little. She _was_ young. Foolish, but so very very young. She still was. It was all so… unfair.

Rubbing the corner of one of her eyes, she responded, "Yes, well, now that you know I'm just as crazy as you are," the professor's lips upturned slightly, "what are we to do now? It seems I might have given you some missing pieces to this puzzle you've been working on for the last year."

The professor nodded, "Yes, well, actually, while I'm not sure how your time in this Labyrinth factors into current affairs… I do think that your contact put a sort of target on your back."

"A target?"

"Yes, I can imagine the magic you are storing could be a very potent attractant to certain individuals. A sort of flame to a moth, though the outcome would have been the reverse for you…"

"You mean, I'm the flame, but also the moth?"

The professor nodded slightly, "Yes, not my best analogy."

She continued, "What exactly am I attracting in this scenario? That knight-thing? Also, wait- I'm _storing_ power?"

He didn't answer right away, his chair creaked as he shifted around towards another pile of books hiding behind his desk. Sarah absentmindedly wondered how the man didn't kill himself everyday just trying to reach his office door.

Her attention drew back to the man, as he moved some stacks of books about. Finally, he went "aha!" and gently lifted onto the desk a thick leather bound tome. He softly blew some clinging dust from its cover, and Sarah coughed.

Leafing through the think parchment pages, he finally landed on his target. With a push of his hands, he shifted the book towards Sarah's direction. She blanched.

"Yes, stored as in you're retaining some energy, which is what I'm picking up on," he pointed down at the page, "Is this what you saw that night?"

Sarah's brows lifted in surprise at a perfect inked illustration of the dark knight that had assaulted her a little while ago. The page was yellowing, and the ink was fading, but Sarah knew for certain when she saw the shimmering green eyes. The accompanying text underneath the creature was tiny and unreadable to her.

She looked up, "That's it. _What_ is it?"

Turning the thick book back, "The book isn't too helpful, but it mentions that this creature is a guardian of sorts. It's cited over and over from other texts from tribes endemic to this area. It's like a mountain or forest guardian."

"Is this 'guardian' known for attacking the locals every so often?"

Aegerter shook his head, "I'm afraid not. It was viewed by the people of old as only a guardian of beneficial spirit. Somehow it's been corrupted, if what you're telling me is correct."

Sarah nodded and her eyes cast back down on the familiar pendent. The pendent of a certain fae king she was still opt to pretend didn't exist.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes, my dear?"

"The pendent I mentioned during my story. Why do you have it?"

"Ah, well I'm terribly sorry if I frightened you by bringing it up, but this was given to me many years ago. It's actually more of a talisman."

Sarah's brow furrowed, "A talisman? It holds magic or something?"

"More likely it _hides_ magic. One could even say it represses it."

Sarah gestured forward, "So it would hide the fact that I was marked you mean?"

The professor reached forward for Sarah's hand, and clasped it gently. Sarah noted how paper-thin, and yet calloused, and bony the hand was. It was the hand of a person who had worked a long and difficult life. Or perhaps difficult, but well lived?

"I know it will remind you of that time, but I'm offering this to you as a form of protection. Whatever has been poisoning this land, and corrupting this guardian, it can surely sense you. Especially now."

Sarah nodded resignedly, and the professor put the ornament in her palm. She hesitated for a moment, and then clutched it.

The professor clapped his hands together, "Ah, working already!"

Sarah, while relieved it was masking her… aura or whatever, she suddenly felt a little more unease. If that was even possible. Shoving the nerves away, she continued, "So professor, this _guardian,_ do you think he's responsible for," she struggled to say the words, "-responsible for killing Luke and that girl from last year?"

He nodded, "Yes, it is unlikely you were able to kill such a creature with a mere wrench. I'm still puzzled why it relocated and retargeted."

"It was a screwdriver."

"What?" the professor asked, lost in thought.

"Nothing, nothing. Doesn't matter, really. Um, so, I _get_ why it targeted me initially now, but why target Luke and that girl? Were they touched as well?"

"I can't be sure Miss Williams. I did not interact with that undergrad to a very high degree. You did, however, mention _you_ interacted with that boy a few months ago?"

Sarah's heart dropped, "Wait, are you saying that _I_ can mark someone myself?"

Noting her anguished look, the professor quickly backtracked, "No no no. Well- Miss Williams I need you to understand something. This magic that you're marked with, it's like," he raised his eyes to the speckled ceiling for a moment, trying to think of another metaphor, "it's like… wet paint!"

"You're saying I'm wet paint now?"

"Yes, and whenever you contact someone, you leave a bit of what was on _you_ on them. Now it depends on the person, and the timing of the month and whatnot, but it's theoretically possible. Not to say that any of what has occurred has anything to do with it being your fault. Never forget that fate spun its thread around you much before this fall, and you had no way of knowing."

Sarah thought back to her meeting with Luke, they had hugged. It now seemed like an everlasting hug.

 _Shit._ Her family… well more Toby and her father. A rather vindictive part of herself wished she'd hugged Karen a little more tightly. A guiltier part said to shut up.

"Sir, can this- thing, can it travel? My whole family is in England right now."

"Ah, well, I would _think_ they will be fine. As you have been up until now. The skewed variable to all this is that something, or someone, is tampering with the land here. If all is well, and I'm certain it is across the pond, then your family should be fine."

Sarah exhaled deeply, "Okay, so now what professor? What kind of tampering are we looking for?"

"So you wish to stop this, involve yourself further?"

Sarah nodded slowly, "Even though you say I'm not responsible, and that my family will be safe…"

He nodded in understanding, "Then we must locate the source of the tampering. It could be another creature, it could be-"

Sarah interjected, "Someone holding a ritual?"

The professor raised a hairy white eyebrow, "Why yes, someone could potentially get their hands on any number of incantation books and perform a ritual of sorts. The scale it would have to be in to drain the land, if the spell required borrowing from the earth mind you, would have to be of a rather large scale. If it was of a more corrupting nature, then it could be smaller."

Sarah's mind traveled back to the Sorority house and the girls in the stacks complaining of a weird ritual going on.

Sarah stood up, "Sir, I think that a sorority house may have been up to something the night of my attack. If I can get more info from someone there, do you think you can figure out what they did and, if it caused this unbalance, fix it?"

Surprised, the Professor nodded slowly, "I can promise nothing, but it would maybe be something that is possible."

Nodding quickly, Sarah gathered her stuff, throwing the pendent over her head, "Okay, then I'll reach out to you again when I get more info. Stay safe professor."

"You as well Miss Williams."

Sarah made her way down the narrow hallway of the liberal arts building with a bounce back in her step.

Her hands were tingling again, but this time, she hardly noticed.

She didn't know what to do with herself. She finally had _told_ someone about what had happened to her. Not only recently, but before as well. She told someone, they believed her, and they had actually offered help, and some form of support.

Sarah immediately retracted any sarcastic statement she had made about the professor. He was currently her second most favorite person on campus.

Speaking of the first, Sarah set her backpack down on the floor for a minute to dig around for her cell phone to reply back to Marge.

 _Hey- no- the meeting actually went super okay. It really was just about the final paper._

Sarah saw Marge was replying back, and waited.

 _Oh cool, so circling back to Aaron…_

Sarah breathed out in irritation and she typed back.

 _Aaron and I aren't really anything right now. I've actually not seen him in a little while. I think being just friends is fine at this point._

 _If you say so… I just think you shouldn't be the only one without a love life on campus._

Sarah snorted, _I wouldn't consider the things the undergrads do constituting a "love life."_

 _I guess it is a bit of a soap opera with them. So much #drama... Oh, did you hear?_

Sarah kept her phone unloacked as she picked up her backpack again and began walking down the tiled hallway.

 _Hear what?_

 _Oh, just a little more drama. Apparently, Sarah Weisman actually dormed (pre-sorority) with the dead girl!_

Sarah stopped walking, and shifted to the side to let a group of students past.

 _What?!_

 _Ikr? AND apparently she's currently dating Quinn's (the dead girl) Ex-by default._

 _Steve?_

Sarah's mind went back to one of her first days on campus, and how she met, and automatically disliked, the ogling jock man-boy.

 _Yep! Steve. Isn't that crazy? Apparently they were both suspects, but were cleared right away. Still though, soooooooo crazy. I wonder if they met while they were being interrogated? LOL, jk. I'm being such a gossip._

 _Lol, no. That is some major soap opera drama. Hey, where r u rn? Wanna hang to study?_

 _Oh, sorry, I have a date tonight actually,_ Marge sent a blushing emoji.

Sarah felt guilty all of the sudden, _What? With who?_

 _Just one of the girls we met at the Halloween party. It's nothing serious, we've just been messaging a little bit and she invited me to some EDM concert thinggie._

 _Lol, I didn't know edm was your thing? Have I met her b4? I hope it goes super well :)_

 _I'm not sure you met her? I hope so too, thxs!_

Sarah locked her phone and stuffed it in her coat pocket. She felt like such a crappy friend. She was so busy involved with her own stuff, that she had completely neglected her friend. Sarah wondered if anything else had happened with Marge, that she didn't feel able to share with Sarah?

Also, who was the girl? Sarah would have to press Marge about it later. Sarah hoped, whoever it was, wasn't too involved in the supernatural voodoo-nonsense going on in that sorority house.

Sarah sighed loudly and started the trek back to her place.

A nice long shower was needed to untangle all the emotions and thoughts that were flooding through her head.

Sarah paced back and forth across the creaky hardwood flooring of her apartment. She had a, now-lukewarm, mug of tea in her right hand, and a pen in her left.

After she had taken her shower, Sarah had started trying to brainstorm ways to infiltrate the Apgar sorority house to gain more information. She'd jotted down some really dumb ideas at first, but soon ran out of steam and just started pacing around. Making tea distracted, but didn't really help, in her brainstorming process.

Frustrated, she bounced onto her bed, only to spill some of her cold tea onto her teal green comforter.

"Opps," she muttered, as she set the mug down on the floor and made her way into the kitchen to grab a paper towel by the fridge.

Struggling with the clear plastic wrap suffocating the roll, Sarah's eyes passed over the top of the fridge. Her eyes locked on the old rotary phone that Sarah Weisman had used to call Sarah on the night of her attack.

The night of her attack, the night of the ritual, the night she just _had_ to go up to the house to grab her misplaced cell.

Sarah's eyes widened at the implications.

Yet, there was no way. Sarah never once entertained the idea that what the girls were doing was actually intentional. That they were picking _out_ people like…. targets?

Sarah freed the paper towel roll, and ripped a sheet off.

She frowned, remembering what Marge had texted, about how Sarah Weisman started dating Quinn DeAmbrose's old boyfriend once Quinn was… out of the picture.

Sarah made a face. Weisman hadn't even joined Apgar at that point, so she was still living in the undergrad housing.

She wiped down the tiny puddle of tea and threw the paper towel into the garbage.

Maybe… maybe Weisman was who she should talk to next though. She had ties to the knight's probable first target, and she was definitely there the night of the ritual. Not to mention she's the one who got Sarah out that night, whether intentional or not.

Wishing rotary phone's had caller idea, Sarah grabbed her cell phone and started scanning social media for some contact info on Weisman. Unfortunately, the party girl didn't appear to over share too much of her personal information online. Her Facebook profile was actually set to private. All Sarah could do was send a friend request, and hope for the best.

Two hours later, after watching a horrible cable movie rom-com, Sarah heard a "ding" as her phone's screen lite up from a notification.

Sarah prayed it wasn't another ridiculous admissions tweet from her university. It was ridiculous how aggressive Caveat's recruiters were. Especially considering how "everyone" wanted to come here. Though, with the recent murders, perhaps the board _was_ freaking out a little…

Thankfully, it was Weisman accepting Sarah's friend request.

Sarah quickly scanned through the girl's pictures. At the very top were several couples photos with Steve. A little ways down were some house party pictures. The further down Sarah scrolled, the more she noticed the pictures getting tamer. Weisman was dressed more casually, and was wearing her glasses more often, and without heavy make-up. Sarah guessed these were pictures before she joined her sorority.

After a little more creeping, Sarah finally reached the fall 2015 segment of the photo album. Ignoring various graduation photos, Sarah found an album titled "First Fall at Uni!."

In it were _dozens_ of photos of Weisman and the dead girl. There was at least six selfies of them during, what seemed to be, freshman orientation. There was a few of them studying, creepily enough, at what looked to be the back stacks of the library. There was even one of them at what seemed to be the same Halloween party that Marge had forced Sarah to attend.

Sarah's finger hovered over the arrow to see the next photo.

Both the girls, Quinn and Weisman, were dressed in pure white, the same color that automatically made you a pledge to the Apgar sorority house…

The same color that forced you into the wacky bloodletting ritual.

Sarah set her phone down, and pushed some of her black hair out of her face. Was the bloodletting ritual connected to the _other_ ritual? The one done during the night of her attack?

It was a stretch, but both Sarah _and_ apparently Quinn, had had their blood dripped into that basin thinggie in the House's backyard.

Even though Luke had never taken part in that himself, he still wasn't the initial target of the knight to begin with. It was a possibility.

Sarah groaned and fell back onto her pillows. She reached for her remote, muted the peppy voice of the woman trying to sell the latest toilet cleaner, and closed her eyes.

Maybe she should message Weisman about meeting for coffee or something. Sarah's mind shifted towards Adam.

 _Or maybe not coffee._

Sarah shoved a pillow over her face as she groaned again. She couldn't just start avoiding him altogether. Yet, she wasn't at all interested in starting something with him, especially since a simple handshake from her could literally kill. Or at least, that's the assumption she was going to operate under until she could learn more about what was going on with her.

Sarah shifted the pillow to the side, and felt her lids drop. She should also message Marge, to see how her date went….

 _Clang!_

Sarah bolted up right from her bed at the sound. Her tingling hands automatically gripping the screwdriver she now ritualistically placed under her pillow each night. When Marge had stayed with Sarah the first few weeks after the attack, Sarah had deigned to simply keeping it in her dresser. She didn't want her friend thinking she had gone off the deep end. After Marge left, however, she quickly made it more accessible.

Sarah tried to control her breathing as she glanced towards her kitchen, where the sound had come from.

 _Breathe Sarah. It was probably the wind knocking down another brick from that crappy fireplace stack outside._

Not trying to focus too much on the fact that the stack was directly opposite where the sound came from, Sarah quickly slipped out of her bed sheets and tip toed to the light switch that controlled the kitchen half of the apartment.

Not realizing she was holding her breath, Sarah exhaled heavily as she flipped the switch.

Nothing.

Walking around the kitchen counter she almost laughed at herself.

A box of Frosted Flacks lay on the floor. She stopped laughing when she noticed the little rip marks targeting the upper left corner of the brand new box.

 _Rats?_

She groaned. This was the last thing she needed to deal with.

She set the box up on top of the fridge and looked around a bit further.

She remembered Karen complaining about rats in their basement a few years ago, the tell tale sign was the droppings. Sarah had never seen any in her apartment for all the months she'd been there. Shrugging, she decided she'd just order a mousetrap or something later on. Maybe this critter was a one-time visitor.

Climbing back into bed, Sarah wrote a vague message to Weisman about meeting up for a coffee to chat about the sorority. Sarah was careful with her wording, so it would kind of look like she was interested in joining the sorority, but just needed some more info come next year to pledge.

She hit "send" and hoped Weisman would buy in and meet with her.

She locked her phone and went to sleep; unaware of a pair of beady eyes staring at her over by the top of the kitchen fridge.

 **A/N**

Heyo! I hope everyone had a chill Thanksgiving, and productive Black Friday shopping experience.

I'm kind of proud of myself, I did most of my deals-shopping online this year. It kind of blows my mind how Black Friday is still on a Thursday night, but it's nice that the online sales are actually reducing the crowds the night of. Target this year was actually really tame. They also closed Thursday night, so the workers could actually sleep (I chatted with one in returns, and she was pretty pumped about not having to stay up until 5am).

Anyway, so here's the update I promised you all. I'm gonna be starting these insane 10+ hour work days soon, so I honestly will not have time to write for a few weeks. I DO have 3 weeks off in December (thank god). I'm thinking that I can squeeze one more update then. Of course, then I will be starting the next phase of my crazy schedule that will keep me from updating for like 6 months :'( (FYI, this is what I'm anticipating, if you see a surprise update b4 then... idk lol. Just know I'm still alive haha…)

Besides my updated schedule (or lack thereof), I'm realizing this story is going to be a little longer then I was anticipating. So, short term plan is that the end of Part I (yes, we're entering "Parts" into the mix now ;) ) will be creeping up in 1-3 more chapters. I kind of want to hit that point in December.

Part II will be who knows HOW long. I have an idea of the next phase of all of this, but honestly, lets just all get through the next few weeks and few chapters lol.

Read/Review, and I'll see you all before New Years (hopefully...)


	14. Scene XIV

**Scene XIV**

"Abby? What about her?"

Sarah took a sip of her coffee, trying to remain casual. After she had sent her message asking to meet with Weisman, she had been surprised at the almost instantaneous agreement to meet. She now found herself sitting in the basement café across from the peppy undergrad, who had once been mistaken to look like her. Sarah didn't see the relation so much anymore, as she had deigned to let her hair grow out over the past month, while Weisman had kept it to a short bob.

Sarah set her ceramic mug down on the table, "Oh, I was just wondering about were she learned some of those Celtic rituals. You know, like the one from the pledging ceremony? I'm just interested, you know. For future reference come next October." Sarah hoped Weisman didn't realize that she was completely making stuff up, including the fact that she wanted to even join the cult-like sorority. Sarah didn't even know if the ritual even _was_ Celtic. For all she knew, it was some knock-off ritual from a Tolkien novel.

Weisman didn't seem to notice, or maybe care, and just nodded, "Oh, so you like want to chat with her about it? You can ask her yourself you know. She'd probably know way more about it then I do."

"Um, yea, well, it's kind of awkward since I don't know her super well. I wanted your outside perspective on it anyway."

Sarah held her breath.

Weisman tucked some of her thick black hair behind her ear as she checked her phones notification for a moment. Locking the screen, she looked up, " _Oh_ , is this about the thing during Halloween? How you kind of freaked?"

Sarah irritated, interjected, "Um, I passed out, not freaked out."

Weisman didn't seem to be listening, "Oh, I guess that makes sense. I mean, Abby doesn't really want us to talk about all the stuff we do, but I get it. Yeah, we don't do too much with blood besides that whole thing. You don't have to worry! " Weisman reached over and tried to grab Sarah's hand. Sarah jerked her hand away, grabbing her coffee to try and cover her aversion.

Weisman, looking like she wanted to comment, shrugged and continued on, "I can tell you a bit more about the other stuff we've done, just, _do not_ tell Abby I said anything. I'd prefer to not be kicked out of the house."

Sarah, glad the whole hand grab thing wasn't delved into, held back a chuckle, "I'm not a reporter Weisman. I won't tell a soul."

Weisman's shoulders fell a little. Sarah didn't realize how tense she had gotten. "Ok, cool. Thanks. I guess we can talk then."

Sarah stuffed her hands into her black hoodies pockets, and leaned back, "Sure, lets begin."

An hour later found Sarah sitting, staring at the email draft she had just written out to update the professor.

Weisman had stayed for about an hour, recounting the _several_ rituals the Apgar sorority house started doing once the enigmatic Abigail Evens came into the picture.

Even though Weisman had been at the House for several months now, she said that she really didn't know much about the albino house leader. She just knew that she was currently a Junior who was part of the fine arts department. She was studying the performing arts or dance or something.

Besides that, no one knew what state she had come from, or if she even had a family. Apparently, Abby was somewhat infamous for never having left campus during any of the college breaks.

"It's, like, weird, right? Maybe her family is hella hellish, but never going home for _three years_. Cray cray," Abby had spoken in a whisper.

Sarah didn't know what to make of that, but she pressed forward about all the rituals the girls did, while also sprinkling interest about other house activities, since she was _so_ interested in joining. Not.

The stuff about the rituals was crazy though, so Sarah didn't have to worry about faking interest too hard. Apparently, Abby had this big book that she would bring out every once in a while to do different rituals. She told the girls the book was an old heirloom, and basically, the stuff they did would give the house good luck.

"Since none of us would be _for_ bad luck, we all just went along with it. Some of us were a little wigged out, if, I mean, you practically seizing after getting your hand cut was any indication."

Sarah held back making a face, "I didn't _seize._ I just got woozy..."

Weisman had waved her correction off, "Yea, well, some girls got spooked. Not to mention the _other_ things that happened."

Sarah had pressed Weisman about what she had meant. The girl didn't budge much, but soldiered on with other details. It wasn't until Aaron made his way into the café area to start his shift, that Sarah realized she had been chatting for almost an hour with the girl. Weisman had noticed Sarah's change in gaze, and turned herself to see Aaron wave at their table.

Taking the moment to check her phone, Weisman had noticed the time and said she was late to go meet up with Steve.

Weisman had at least given Sarah her cell for if she had "further questions about joining."

Weisman smiled and left.

Sarah had thrown herself headfirst into writing a rough draft to send to the professor. Partially it was to get the information to the professor, but also, partially, to keep herself busy from awkwardly glancing Aaron's way a hundred times as he punched in, and did some general housekeeping, before his shift started.

"Hey, you. More coffee?" Sarah glanced up, surprised, as Aaron held up a freshly brewed pot towards Sarah. It looked like she got a little _too_ involved in the writing. She hadn't even noticed him walking up to her table.

Sarah felt a small blush creep up, "Um sure- how are you? I feel like I haven't seen you around in a while." Sarah felt a little like dying from the awkwardness of the words coming from her mouth.

"Well, you haven't. You kind of fell off the face of the earth for a while there," he chuckled lightly. "If Marge hadn't been able to vouch for you, I would've thought _you_ had gone missing too."

Aaron's dark humor didn't seem to hit the mark, as Sarah felt her face pale a little at the remark.

Noticing her expression, Aaron back tracked quickly, "Hey, sorry. That was a terrible joke. My bad. I guess it's kind of too soon still, huh?"

Sarah could only nod.

Sarah grabbed some of the Splenda packets Aaron had set by her freshly poured cup to keep her hands busy as she collected her thoughts, she stacked them together and shook them a few times, "No, no, it's fine. It's just the whole thing is a bit… troubling is all."

Aaron pushed a hand through his tousled brown hair, "Yeah, no kidding. I mean, I didn't know the most recent guy, but damn the way he went was _creepy_."

Sarah glanced up, mid-pour of her sugar packets, "Wha- they released the cause of death?" Sarah had had her phone setup to receive any local alerts regarding Luke. Did she miss something?

Now it was Aaron's turn to turn crimson, "Um, well. I don't think I ever mentioned it to you guys, but my brother actually is on the force. He doesn't work homicide or anything, but he hears things from time to time."

Sarah nodded, surprised. She didn't even know Aaron even _had_ a brother. Ignoring that fact for the moment, "So… what did your brother say? About the death that is?"

Aaron set the warm coffee pot down as he pulled up a chair next to Sarah. She shifted a little to face him, careful to not get too close.

"Apparently, they found his body _way_ up in the woods. At first they thought maybe he'd gone up there to… ya know," Aaron gestured with his hands across his neck, in a slicing motion.

"You mean kill himself," Sarah said bluntly. Her mind traveled back to the hundreds of smiling facebook pictures, and the animated conversations she had shared with the burly geologist in training on their shared plane ride.

Aaron winced, "Yeah… either that or he got lost and froze to death."

"So, what exactly made them decide it wasn't a suicide, or even an accident?"

"Well, and here's the creepy part," Aaron said, as he leaned in close. Sarah leaned back a little in her chair in response. Sarah saw Aaron's mouth twitched in response to her, but he continued, "Apparently the guy's body was, like, completely _drained_."

Sarah felt her stomach drop, "What? By like a freak'in snow vampire?"

Aaron nodded, "Yea. Apparently, it was so dried out that the coroners report said it was basically shriveled up."

Confused, Sarah followed up, "Does your brother know if they found his blood _at_ the scene? Like around him? It didn't just _vanish_ "

"Well, apparently nothing was found. That's why it's so creepy. Just like last year too…"

"You mean with Quinn?"

Aaron scratched his chin, it had a light dusting as if he had forgotten to shave this morning.

"Yeah, well, Sarah, you can't say a _word_ of this to anybody. I think they're going to release this info soon, which is why my brother even told me anything, but just in case."

Sarah nodded slightly, "Thanks for telling me. I won't speak of this to anyone."

Aaron looked relieved, and said he had better head back to work.

Sarah smiled at him as he left her table, and offered a slightly less hot pot of coffee to the other café goers.

Her smile fell, however, when she faced the brightly pixelated screen of her computer.

She started typing, hard and fast.

She had promised Aaron she wouldn't speak of the information he'd gotten from his brother, but she hadn't promised she wouldn't write about it.

 **A/N**

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays guys!

This chapter is a bit short and sweet- but it's laying the foundation for the end of Part 1!

Break has been SO great. I definitely am not looking forward to the Jan to April grind, but it is what it is. Hopefully I can get all my life stuff together so that I can just focus on the work at hand (I'm currently trying to read this bland 650 page book about surgery to stay on top of everything... Pray for me lol).

Anyway, like I said before, I think I'll be able to wrap this up (part 1) by the start of January. So, please read/ review and look forward to the next chapter in a few days!


	15. Scene XV

**Scene** **XV**

 **December 2, 2015**

 **Email sent: 8:23pm**

 _Miss Williams, the information you collected has been immensely helpful, though from the tone of your email, I'm worried you're going to go and confront this ring-leader girl. I must urge you to stay away from that house for the time being. A contingency plan must be put in place. While this girl is most likely simply trying to do these rituals as a way towards acceptance by her peers, there is still a looming possibility that she, herself, has been corrupted in some way._

 _The correlation of the blood draining occurring in the victims and the specific bloodletting rituals that the girl you spoke with described… not to mention the dozen other things that those girls have been up to… they mean that a very ancient text is most likely being used. Only one I can think of really._

 _I suspect it might be the one I've attached to this email. It would have to be a first edition, and frankly, one of the few copies left to this world. How this young lady has a copy of it… if that's what she has, I do not know._

 _Let's meet in person in a few days to discuss this further._

 _Regards,_

 _I. Aegerter_

Sarah stared at the professor's message, and the attached .jpeg, for what felt like the fifth time that day.

She had practically memorized each phrase he wrote, along with each stich of the archaic looking tomb he had attached.

That was partially the point, Sarah wanted to make sure she _knew_ which book to find when she broke into Abby's room.

It should be easy enough. The book was moderately sized, with no words or phrases on the cover. It just had tons of little graphics that Sarah couldn't make out due to the poor quality of the image.

The thing she _did_ have on her side, was the color of the book. It seemed to be a dark shade of green, more evergreen then the emerald color of her own eyes. It was also wrapped in thorns made up of a shiny gold material. The gold tendrils encapsulating the cover and conjoined into a trunk that made up the spine.

Sarah half-wondered if it was real gold.

 _Sarah, r u still coming for our study sesh at the house?_

Sarah looked down at her phone and typed back quickly: _Of course. Just grabbing some coffee. B there in a few._

 _Kk._

Sarah stuffed her phone into her hounds tooth coat pocket, and turned to head towards the library.

She felt a little too paranoid as she glanced towards the towering old liberal arts building, half expecting the professor to poke his head out of one of his aging windows and confront her radio-silence towards his email.

Her hands started to tingle again, so she took her gloves off. The bitter cold of winter was in full bloom at Caveat University. While Sarah had gone through several bottles of hand cream by now, she found that the ever-increasing tingling sensation she felt in her hands could only be quieted with extreme temperature changes. She was thinking maybe she had suffered some sort of nerve damage a few weeks ago, during her attack. She had been slashed with a sword… though in only one arm…

She really didn't feel like seeing a neurologist, and having to explain anything. Hopefully, the issue would resolve itself. She read nerve issues took several weeks to months to heal anyway.

Focusing on the task at hand, Sarah made her way up the salted library steps, trying to not slip.

"Sarah!"

She turned her head at the sound, her hair flying in her face. It now was almost past her shoulders.

"Oh, hey Aaron."

Aaron walked up to her and patted her on the back. He, unlike her, was wearing thick red knitted gloves.

"It's freezing out here, isn't it? You coming to study?" he was grinning broadly. After chatting with him after meeting with Weisman a few days ago, they had sort of started talking again. The awkwardness had melted away after a little bit.

Sarah couldn't help herself, and she smiled back at him, "Not quite. Just grabbing some coffee. I'm meeting up with Marge and her new girlfriend at the Apgar house to study."

Aaron nodded as they both started walking up the steps again, "Veronica, right? She seems nice."

"You've met her? Like formally?"

Aaron opened the library wooden door, holding it for Sarah to walk in first, "Yeah, I was working a few times when she and Marge were there. Got introduced and all that. They're pretty cute together."

Sarah walked into the old library, her eyes adjusting to the dim light inside as she walked towards the elevator, "Yeah, I mean, if Marge likes her, she must be great."

Sarah pressed down, and the elevator immediately opened with a _ding!_

When the doors shut, and they felt the metal box lurch downward, Aaron cleared his throat, "Hey, I'm sorry about a few days ago. The whole 'you disappeared' comment. Marge kind of mentioned something had happened," Sarah glanced up sharply at Aaron in worry, noting her expression he smiled reassuringly, "hey, no details were divulged. Just," Aaron pushed a hand through his hair, "if you ever want to talk about it… I'm here. I know we haven't known each other for very long but… "

The elevator suddenly jerked violently. Sarah stifled a scream as Aaron lost his footing for a moment. The elevator creaked open then. They were in the basement.

Looking at each other in confusion, Aaron righted himself, " Jesus, I better tell someone to take a look at this thing. Dying in an undergrad library elevator, in the middle of no-where Washington State, is definitely not on my to-do list for today."

Sarah chuckled, and walked out, "Yeah, no kidding," she sobered a little, "oh, but Aaron?"

He glanced down at Sarah with an expression she could only describe as warm. His cheeks were still ruddy from the cold, and his breath was still a little shaky from the elevator scare. He looked so…

"Yeah?" he said.

"Um, yeah. Thanks, for the offer back there. It was really sweet of you."

Sarah thought she saw Aaron blush a little as he turned his gaze away from her to start walking towards the café, "Yeah, don't mention it."

Aaron went ahead and made Sarah a cinnamon latte "on the house."

She had laughed at the gesture, "Are you bribing so I don't tell anyone about my brush with death in your elevator?"

Aaron feign reproach, "Why, of course not, I-"

"Hey, can you two stop flirting? I've been waiting forever to place my order!"

They both turned, to see an inpatient undergrad tapping her Apple Watch. Aaron turned to Sarah, setting her latte in front of her and rolled his eyes.

Neither one of them chose to correct the undergrad about how they were certainly not flirting.

Sarah grabbed her hot cup, without taking a sleeve for it, and took the stairs back up. She tried not to focus on the new spring in her step.

Or think about the upcoming task at hand.

"I see you finally got your coffee. Was Aaron there by any chance?"

Sarah chuckled as she tossed her jacket onto a white wooden chair, "Ha ha, yes, I saw Aaron. And, FYI, this is actually a latte," Sarah looked around, "is Veronica here?"

Marge rolled her eyes at the latte statement, and shifted her feet off the bed she had been laying on. It was covered with notebooks, highlighters, and an Apple laptop. "Yeah, she just ran to the bathroom. She'll be here in a minute."

"Cool," Sarah responded as she began picking out her own notebooks and texts. She figured the bed space was taken, so she'd work on the plush carpeting nearby. It wasn't exactly her ideal study space, but two birds with one stone and all that.

Once she settled herself, Sarah glanced up at Marge, who was on her phone tapping away, "How's your family doing about all that's happened recently?"

Marge glanced up, "Oh, about the whole murdered guy student thing? Eh, a little better from when they first found out. I still _can't_ believe how fast my mom caught wind of it. Like, I had called you and not 24 hours later she knew. Though, to be honest, it's kind of thawed things between us."

Sarah opened her eyes in surprise, " _Really?_ I thought she was threatening to come up here and personally move you out?"

Marge laughed, "Yea," She gestured at herself, "well that obviously didn't happen. Point is, she actually offered, and was willing, to come see me. She's also been actually talking to me more without my dad guilting her into it." Marge tapped at her phone, "she's even been messaging me, granted it's like screen grabs of amazon's pepper spray selection and links to youtube videos about self-defense… but still."

Sarah noted how animated Marge was talking about her reconnection with her mom, "That's so great Marge. I'm so glad things are getting better between you two. Also, can you please send me some of those links? I think I need a little self-defense know-how myself."

Marge laughed at Sarah's playful expression, "Sure thing."

A click was heard then, as the golden curved handle of the large sorority room opened up. In walked a stunning girl with long blond hair. Sarah shifted up from her place on the carpet, "Hey," she said with a big grin, "I'm Sarah. You must be Veronica?"

The blond girl smiled in return, "Hello, yes. It's so nice to meet you. Marge mentioned how you're in the same English graduate program as her?"

Sarah nodded as she resisted the urge to shake hands with the girl. She figured that would be kind of weird, "Yeah, and you're a senior, right? Math was it?"

Veronica nodded enthusiastically, "Oh yes, I'm almost done. I'm working on my senior thesis and some silly gen ed classes and I'm _out_."

Sarah laughed, completely understanding the girl's excitement. She'd had it herself, though she hadn't realized she'd be spending the next year or so bouncing from audition to audition in New York, not making much headway in her own career…While academia was a major stressor, it was somewhat a bubble from the world's realities.

A few hours, and several pages of written notes later, and Sarah found herself walking back up from the giant sorority kitchen with a glass of water in hand, and her backpack swung over one shoulder. After seeing all the stainless steel appliances, and gorgeous glittering granite countertops, Sarah was actually a little regretful that she couldn't join the house. The fancy Italian-made espresso machine was making her, possibly, rat-infested apartment look pretty crappy at the moment.

Taking a sip of her water, Sarah smiled at some girls walking down the staircase. They look like they had raided the dress section of a Forever 21. Between the bright sconces lining the walls, and the giant Swarovski crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, Sarah felt partial blinded by all the light being reflected off the girl's sequins dresses. They must have been heading to the winter frat party Veronica said most of the girls went to. Conveniently, to Sarah anyway, this included Abby.

Rubbing her right eye, Sarah looked around the long empty hallway. She knew that Veronica's room was just a bit off to the right. Abby, she learned through some casual questioning, had a master suite off to the left. It was hard to miss; since it was decaled a dazzling silver color.

Sarah spotted the glamorous doors, and padded her way over. Feeling a spark of adrenaline, Sarah did another quick glance around. It seemed that most of the girls had made their way over to the party, or were calling it a night.

Sarah had already planned everything out.

She had announced to Marge and Veronica that she was going to grab a glass of water. Thankfully, they were both too distracted with their work so Sarah didn't have to come up with an explanation for taking her backpack with her downstairs. The few girls who were there didn't give her a second look as she grabbed a glass of water, and made her way back up. If anyone noticed, and commented, about why she was coming in or out of Abby's room, she'd just say she was looking for the bathroom.

It was a pretty simple plan. Simple was good. Simple was safe.

As Sarah held her breathe as she pushed down on the winging silver handle of Abby's door. She frowned as her hand was met with resistance.

 _Of course._

Not skipping a beat, Sarah set her glass of water down and fished around inside her backpack. She nodded as her hand made contact with the hard plastic of an old Starbucks gift card.

Sarah looked around again, cautiously.

Living in New York for a year had been a culture shock to Sarah. Yet, she'd learned a thing or two. This included traversing subways, haggling in Chinatown, jay walking, losing potential muggers following you home, and also, getting into your apartment if you locked yourself out.

The trick didn't work for every door, but Sarah doubted Abby was that worried about security that she'd put more then one lock on the single cylinder door.

Taking the hard plastic card into her left hand, Sarah carefully slipped it between the two doors. Pushing down aggressively, Sarah smiled in satisfaction as the bolt slide out, and the handle turned down.

Sarah glanced around again, feeling self conscious at the noise she was making. Mercifully, no one came out of their rooms.

Sarah quickly slid into Abby's quarters, and shut the door behind her.

Puling her phone out from her black sweat pocket, Sarah turned the flashlight feature on and looked around for a light switch. Noting one on the wall near, what appeared to be, a fireplace, Sarah switched it on.

Her eyes were met with a perfectly normal room, not too far off from the one Veronica had.

Sarah didn't know what she was expecting. Maybe castrated cats and blood drawn-pentagrams? Perhaps, also, an incrementing manifesto?

Sighing, Sarah went to work, quietly scanning bookcases, and opening drawers. After a couple minutes of fruitless searching, Sarah dejectedly sat on the bench in front of Abby's towering bed. She glanced at her phone. She'd been there five minutes. Sarah didn't know how much time she had, but Marge and Veronica might start to wonder were she had left to.

Perhaps, the book the Professor had postulated was being used was the wrong one? What if there wasn't even a book involved?

Sarah glanced dejectedly around the room one more time, her hand adjusting onto the plush floral themed duvet of the bed as she craned her head around.

She gasped at the sudden influx of tingling in her palm.

Pulling her burning hand away, she furrowed her brows.

She had already looked under the bed… following her gut, or, she supposed, her hand, Sarah stood and stuck her hand under the thick mattress.

She winced this time, as she felt a sharp bite of something on her bare palm.

 _The hell._

Not letting her fear at her lightly bleeding finger get the best of her, Sarah pulled out a pair of winter mittens she had stuffed in her front backpack pocket. Putting a thick glove on one hand, Sarah lifted the mattress with her other hand. After some tugging, she felt something like a book give, and slide out from underneath. Her brows raised as she stared at the exact tomb Dr. Aegerter had sent her a .jpeg of a few days ago. The picture had definitely not done the book justice. It was breathtaking. The gold was polished and gleaming as it formed sinewy vines, that met to fortify the thick spine of the text. On closer inspection, Sarah noticed the vines were prickled with sharp thorns. That explained the needle-like sensations she felt. It didn't, however, explain the newly intensifying tingling sensation Sarah felt in her palms.

Ignoring the discomfort for a moment, she quickly opened the first page of the text. Sarah confirmed that this was, in fact, a first edition book.

Not wanting to dally, now that she procured her quarry, Sarah grabbed her backpack and gently settled the book into it. The tingling pain in her hands subsided slightly, to her relief. She took her glove off and stuffed it away hurriedly, not caring the zipper didn't close completely, as the teeth snagged with the fibers of one of the gloves.

She stood up, and swung the bag over her shoulders.

It was then that the door to Abby's room flung open.

 **A/N**

Wow, I actually updated!

Hope everyone's winter holidays are going swimmingly. I, myself, have been somewhat productive. I will admit to bingeing a hilarious KDrama "The Master's Sun" for a few days... but if you guys have the time I highly recommend it. It's got an interesting premise, the acting is great, and the character development is so refreshing (it's like a romcom, essentially).

ANYWHO, there's about 1 more chapter left for the climax of part 1. I'm just about almost done writing it, so assuming nothing happens, I should get it up here in a few days.

I also had some inspiration, and wrote out the first chapter of Part 2... it needs some major tweaking, but it is actually present in this world. I *might* post it. If I can get it to how I like it, and think that it will be a nice way to tide you guys over for the several months of inactivity I will have... I might.

Well, that's all for now. Have a safe rest of your holidays, and read/ review!


	16. Scene XVI

**Scene XVI**

Abby carefully shut the door as Sarah walked through into the lounge area.

Feeling irritated, Sarah proceeded to plant herself on the couch, not bothering to take off her snow trekked boots this time.

Abby's eyes cast down at the black thick boots making contact with her pristine shag carpet. She didn't say anything, but Sarah swore she saw an eye twitch.

The two women proceeded to stare at each other for a few minutes. Neither one of the girls willing to break the silence.

Sarah tucked some hair behind her ear, while assuring herself the pendant cord was wrapped around her neck securely.

Shrugging suddenly, Abby made her way over to the yearbook section of the room. The one Sarah had seen filled with the Stepford photo ops of past sisters. Abby picked one up and began casually flipping through it.

"So, I feel as though it's only natural that I ask just _what_ were you doing in my room a few moments ago?"

Sarah felt her face redden a little at the direct question. Her bravado was fading a little bit. She proceeded with her scripted response.

"I was actually just studying with Marge, and Veronica, one of your sisters," which wasn't exactly a lie, "and I was looking for the bathroom," which was a total lie, "and I accidently went into your room."

Sarah decided to add a little more to the story, "I was gonna head out, but I noticed a book on your shelf that we're studying in my _Myth and Folklore_ class," a lie she could make into truth with the Professor, "and I just had to take a peak at it. Google books only lets you see so many of the pages."

While scanning Abby's room, Sarah actually did see a few old texts scattered about.

Sarah smiled sheepishly, "I wasn't trying to steal something or whatever. I apologize for getting into your space."

 _Snap._

Sarah almost jumped a little as Abby firmly shut the leather bound yearbook, "that… makes sense. I guess I must not have locked the room… Assuming I go up to my room and find nothing actually missing," Sarah resisted making a face, "then I suppose I must believe you."

Sarah nodded slowly, slightly worried the girl was going to actually go up and check right away. Sarah's hands were still lightly tingling from her proximity to the thorn book stuffed in her bag, not five feet away from Abby herself.

"Since you always seem to be lurking around here," she gave Sarah a pointed look, "I hope you've finally got a lay of the house and will not be accidently entering, and rummaging through bookcases, of other people's rooms again."

Sarah wanted to say she'd only been there three times before- though within the last 2 months… She decided to just chuckle casually, "Of course, I'll ask for better directions next time."

Giving her a once over, Abby sighed and set the book back to its place in the shelf, "Well, have an excellent rest of your day Sarah, I can see you out of course."

Sarah nodded, buttoning up her coat. She had already grabbed it upstairs after Abby had discovered her- figuring it was best she get out of the house sooner rather then later. She made her excuses regarding leaving early to Marge and Veronica as well. Marge had said she'd text her later, and Veronica gave her a small hug. Sarah had decided she liked the blond. She seemed to make Marge happy.

When Sarah looked up from her coat buttons, she noticed Abby was also throwing on a jacket.

Puzzled, Sarah asked, "Are you… going out again?"

Abby smiled sweetly at Sarah, "Oh yes, I'm heading back to the frat party we're co-hosting. I had come back for my phone when I found you in my room," Sarah felt her cheeks color again.

"Um, right."

Abby opened the great wooden door of the entryway and gestured for Sarah to exit, "After you."

Sarah smiled tightly and began walking. She instinctively tightened the grip on her backpack straps when she walked past into the frigid night air.

Sarah restrained from jumping, again, as Abby slammed the heavy front doors shut, and started on her own way down the cement steps.

She didn't know if it was the freezing cold, or the fact that she had to walk for a few minutes besides the girl she had essentially robbed, but Sarah was feeling a bit on edge. Thankfully, when they both reached the edge of the house grounds, they went in opposite directions. Abby, towards the frat house, and Sarah, towards her own apartment.

With the queen bee gone, Sarah released a heavy breath.

 _She'd actually pulled it off._

Sarah wasn't really sure what she was going to do now, though. She figured she had a little bit of time- maybe a few days at most- until Abby realized that her book was missing. Though why Abby would hide such an expensive artifact under her bed was beyond Sarah.

It complicated things now, however, since she was essentially caught in the act. It wouldn't take much for Abby to figure out where the book had probably gone. It also didn't help that the thing was probably worth a _lot_ of money.

The anxiety Sarah felt bubbling in her chest started to turn into dread.

Sarah shook her head- no. She had time. She would email Aegerter tonight, they would pour over the book tomorrow, they would find the problem, reverse it, and Sarah could sneak the book back.

 _Yeah, this will work._

Sarah's thoughts shifted to the undergrad girl and Luke. She couldn't stop herself from imagining them lying alone, in the snow, frozen and completely drained of everything. _It has to…_

 _Hoot._

 _Hoot._

Sarah glanced up from her feet sharply. A bit of snow from a lower tree branch fell around her as she caught a glimpse of a snow-white owl flying up towards the treetops.

Her eyes narrowed at the sight. She stopped walking for a minute.

She kept glancing up at the spot of trees the bird disappeared to. It was then that her eyes began drifting back towards the trail in front of her- or the lack thereof.

She realized that she had been so preoccupied with her thoughts, and making sure she didn't trip or slip on the snowy ground, that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going.

Her brows furrowed and her brains half-baked explanation. The road to her apartment from the sorority house was basically a straight walk. It would be insane that she got lost…

Looking around, she balked as a nearby tree branch scrapped across her cheek. Her confusion mounted. The trees were _way_ to close to her. It was as if she was deep in the woods.

The moonlight was doing a decent job of illuminating her surroundings, but Sarah pulled out her phone's flashlight to get better bearings.

She muffled a gasp as her light fell upon a _very_ familiar knotted tree. It was the thick huge oak that was aggressively split down it's top from an ancient lightning strike many years ago. It was the tree Sarah had hid below; under it's throttled and exposed roots, while the green knight had tried to grab her.

 _What was going on?_

There was no way in hell Sarah had accidentally walked this way.

Trying to calm herself, Sarah quickly began searching for a decent exit route among the dense foliage.

"Hello again, Sarah."

Sarah froze at her name. She'd recognized that voice anywhere. Especially since she just heard it not 15 minutes ago.

Turning around, careful of the prickly branches, Sarah's eyes fell upon Abby again. She was wrapped snugly in her white down jacket. Her hood was up, the fur lining, and her narrowed red eyes, giving her the appearance of a nighttime predator.

"Abby? What's going on?" Sarah grimaced as her voice came out a little more high-pitched then she would have liked.

Abby seemed to smirk at Sarah's apparent nervousness, pulling her hood back to let her long bright locks fall around herself, "Nothing much. I just came to grab something you seemed to have forgotten to put back is all."

 _Crap. She knew about the book._

Bewildered, Sarah struggled at what to say. She was starting to think her recent location change might be implying Abby was more involved in things then she had originally thought.

Deciding to play dumb for the moment, Sarah responded, "Put back? I'm pretty sure I got all my own stuff."

Abby rolled her eyes and began to take her gloves off, "Ugh, _enough_ , with this pretense. I know you have my book in your bag Sarah Williams."

Sarah answered the question with one of her own, "Abby, why am I here?"

Abby stared at Sarah as if she was doing mental calculations about how she should next respond.

"You're here to finish what was started," she stuffed her mittens in her coat's pocket, "or maybe, _I'm_ here to finish what was started. Who really knows at this point."

"You're not making any sense Abby. Finish what?"

"I think we both know what happened _here_ ," Abby gestured around the encircling trees ominously. She next gestured her hand down to the ground, "and what happened _there_. I guess fate, or something, must have had a hand in bringing you here, at this time, in these circumstances."

Sarah could only stare at the girl in front of her in horror.

 _She knew about the Labyrinth?_

Not looking like she wanted much of a response from Sarah, Abby continued speaking, "After you had your little dance and decided to blow us all upwards to kingdom come… well."

"You're a goblin?" Sarah managed to choke out.

"Hah, I'm not one of those grangey little beasts. I was conjured up actually. For _your_ benefit I might add."

Sarah managed a scoff, "Just _what_ does that even mean. I'm not here for riddles Abby."

"No no, of course not. _He_ loves them, however."

Abby stared up at the cloudy night sky and sighed softly, "I was a dancer" she whispered, more to herself then anyone else.

"I _am_ a dancer."

Sarah's eyes widened as she put some pieces together, "From the ballroom?"

Abby turned back and harshly responded, " _Yes_ , from that crummy little love nest that twisted Fae King concocted."

Ignoring the jab at the trickster in question, Sarah pounced on the new information, "So your… magical yourself? You're not just some student tampering with old spells…" it was more of a statement then a question.

Abby smiled smugly, "well, as some of these mortals would say, 'duh!'."

Sarah took an involuntary step back, "So you're the one sapping the land of it's magic."

Abby's eyes narrowed, " _Perhaps,_ yet what I'm wondering about is how a little wish-maker and breaker, such as yourself, came to know of such magical machinations?"

Sarah felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, she had a feeling exposing the professor at this juncture would be a huge mistake. She decided misdirection would be best at this point, "This wish-maker, or whatever, was attacked by a very angry guardian of _this_ forest. It doesn't take much to put things together. I still remember my time in the Labyrinth. I'm not that naïve. Regardless, whatever you're doing, _this_ ," she gestured her arms haphazardly in front of herself, "It needs to stop. People are dying."

"Stop? Do you even comprehend what you're asking?" Abby said, her posture shifting ever so slightly. He expression genuinely shocked at the notion.

Sarah didn't respond.

"You're asking me to sit back and let myself _die_? Foolish girl. You haven't even _tasted_ what death is. I bathed in its waters for ages. Time had no real concept Underground. _I_ had no real conception Underground. I was an ethereal thought, a whiff of magic, a sublimate sentient. Asking me to give up my present, my _life_. No. Never."

Sarah noticed Abby's hands clenching tightly, "We all have things that we cannot compromise, and have chosen to do, Sarah Williams. You," she pointed an accusingly hand at Sarah's sweating brow, "your little baby brother for the sake of a Kingdom, and a heart," She redirected her hand toward her breast, "I, myself, for the sake of a handful of mortals who were destined to die regardless."

"So you die if they don't?" Sarah's brow furrowed in horrid understanding, "You can't stay here without magic… so you're stealing it? The humans aren't your target, just collateral?"

Abby's eyes closed as she took a deep breathe in, Sarah swore the branches and frosted leaves pulsed inward with her breathe, almost as if Abby was taking in the essence of the wildlife around herself. Like she had linked herself to it.

"Yes, while I feel some sadness regarding the price for my life, I don't see how it differs from you at all. Your judgment is not welcomed. Whatever the case, I think this conversation has come to an end. You got your answers and I got mine."

Sarah took another step back. She'd be more annoyed with herself at her cowardly behavior, but the air around her had dropped a few degrees suddenly. Sarah's body was starting to sense something was about to happen, which her mind hadn't quite caught up to.

"Your answers?" Sarah stuttered, her hands starting to shake as the temperature continued to drop.

"Yes, you may have been a wonderful actress Sarah Williams, but the heart doesn't lie." Abby patted her chest, right over her heart, and mimic'd a hurried and rushed pace with her palm.

Sarah shuffled back another step, this time in response to Abby's step forward, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, you didn't figure out my little extracurricular activity on your own. Figures. It was the way you were back then in the Labyrinth, and it's the way you are now," Sarah felt her frozen cheeks warm a minute with a rush of anger at her statement.

"While I'm not really interested in torturing the truth out, I can eventually suss it out," Sarah's legs gave out from the cold, and she collapsed forward onto her knees. Abby closed the gap between them and crutched down, grabbing Sarah's head by the chin, "Aw, your lips are starting to turn blue dear. Well, no worries. Once the knight comes to take his quarry, it won't matter."

Abby released Sarah's face and stood up, placing her gloves back on her hands, "I'm sure news of your death will bring your partner up from the trenches of this ridiculous school. In the meantime, "Abby took a gloved hand and unzipped the front of Sarah's winter coat, the loss of further protection caused Sarah's teeth to start to chatter. Taking no mind, Abby reached around Sarah neck, for a moment Sarah thought she was going to chock her to death. To her horror, Abby didn't do that, but ripped the pendent Dr. Aegerter had given her. Given her to hide herself from the knight.

Abby held the pendent up towards her eyes. It seemed to almost be glowing. "Curious…" she muttered, more to herself then Sarah.

Losing interest, she glanced back down at Sarah, "I'm assuming you didn't just find this lying around?" Sarah didn't speak and Abby shrugged, "Probably your 'friend' gave it to you," she shrugged and Sarah boiled. She next tugged the backpack from Sarah's shoulder roughly, causing Sarah's hands to meet the snow. This time, the intense chill of the ground did nothing to quell the tingling in Sarah's hands.

Abby threw the bag over one of her shoulders and waved at Sarah, "Farewell Sarah Williams, and may our fates _never_ entwine again."

With that, Abby began walking away, starting to glow a subtle shade of red. Sarah, suddenly realizing that she was literally going to freeze to death by some enchantment, or knight, as Abby melted away into the night, began to panic. Her eyes suddenly fell upon three dark shadows a few feet out in the distance. Recognition dawned as she realized she needed to stall.

So she started to laugh.

Abby, confused by the reaction, stopped glowing and turned back around to stare at Sarah quizzically, "Not that I'm _particularly_ interested, since you're going to be dead soon, but… just what is so funny?"

Sarah, realizing the temperature had warmed up ever so slightly, looked up, "Oh, I was just laughing at how ridiculous you sound talking about fate- as if neither of us had any control of how things did, and are, going to play out."

Abby's brows furrowed, " I think the colds making you delusional Sarah, there's no 'us' in this. Maybe _I_ controlled a few things, but you had no power over any of this situation."

Sarah smiled slightly, as her phone's midnight alarm suddenly went off. It was a reminder notification to email the professor to let him know everything was okay, and she had procured the book. She had set it up earlier in the day. She had to admit, the timing was impeccable. Dancing maracas filled the air. Abby just stared in confusion.

Hoof beats could be heard in the distance.

Abby's confusion melted into furry, " _What is going on_ ," she hissed out.

"It's midnight Abby, and the rider in the forest is coming for you this time," Sarah willed herself to look calm and collected as she said this. In truth, her heart was racing once she heard the hoof beats. She prayed her intuition was correct.

Abby turned towards the sound of crunching hooves, her eyes widening.

Sarah reached a frozen hand out from her chest, almost as if she was expecting Abby to help her stand up.

A few tense moments passed, and Sarah swore time seem to stop. The breath in front of her paused, now a translucent cloud in front of her face. A few flurries that were falling slowed down to a halt in the air. The full moon, which revealed itself from behind a cloud, highlighted each flake, so that the air around her seemed to sparkle.

It was then the sound of whinnying and tiny growls permeated the air. Sarah saw her attacker canter into view, just as Abby did. It was then that the three tiny goblins jump up from behind the nearby tree.

Sarah felt the color drain from her face. Abby, distracted by the entrance of her own victim, left herself entirely vulnerable to the goblins attack.

One of them, wearing an emerald tattered shirt, with wrinkly skin the color of dark sapphires, lunged forward and opened its mouth to sink its sharp teeth into the flesh of Abby's left ankle. Abby screamed in shock, and dropped Sarah's pendent onto the snowy forest floor as she began jerking her foot.

Sarah stared at the offending creature, but noticed that its eyes were trailed onto the fallen pendant; almost as if it was telling her to grab it.

Sarah realized this was her chance. Gathering as much resolve as she could, she leapt forward, stumbling around Abby's legs. The girl was screaming, raising her arms defensively to deflect the other two goblins that appeared, while trying to shake the goblin on her foot.

Sarah dug her hand around the snow and felt relief wash over her as her tingling fingers made contact with a familiar sharp angular object.

Once she made contact, the goblins suddenly stilled. Abby took the opportunity to whisper something under her breath, and the goblins were flung off her body in one fell swoop.

Almost as if on cue, everyone, goblins and girls alike, glanced towards the green knight- who's entrance had been momentarily forgotten in the scuffle.

The rider, as if on cue, gracefully dismounting from his mount and whispered, " _Faoiseamh."_

Sarah shivered at the supernatural voice, her memory prickling at the words.

A few heart beats passed.

The guardian reached for his sword.

Abby turned to run, beginning to glow red again, as Sarah grabbed for her injured ankle.

Abby stumbled in repsonse, as Sarah's hands began to burn.

 **A/N**

Wow, I can't believe 2017 is done and over with!

Lol, jk, I think I actually can. It seems like it was just yesterday, but if you really sit down and go through month by month all that's happened, it gives you a really good grasp on what you've done.

Still, now I feel the need to come up with some resolutions. I know there are a million articles out there about why resolutions are dumb, but there is something about chronicling what you wanted in the beginning of a year, and then looking back at how you've changed (either by accomplishing the goal, or by relinquishing it).

Idk, I'm blathering on.

Here's the end of Part 1, as promised. I'm currently tweaking the first chapter of Part 2. I definetely think I'll be able to post it before I go back to school/ work on Monday.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been following this little project of mine along for so long (I think it's been over 2 years already?). Especially with all the month long delays that occurred between chapters. I promise to continue to keep chugging along with this story when I have time/ am not exhausted.

Here's to another year, and hopefully significantly more updates from me :D


	17. Act II Scene I

Act II

Scene I

 _The burning in her hands was gone._

That was the first thought that popped into Sarah's foggy mind. The second was why the hell was she on the ground?

After a second, Sarah felt her heavy lids open. The first thing she noticed being on the ground, and facing up, was the sky. It was the kind lost to most urban dwellers due to light pollution, and general disinterest. It was a sky that New York City could never offer to its visitors. She stared mesmerized for a moment. She froze the minute she registered the second moon.

"Enjoying the view?"

Sarah jerked upright at the sound of the voice, only to slip a few times on the sandy ground. It didn't help that when she got upright, blood rushed into her pounding head making her falter, and feel even hazier.

Sarah heard an exasperated sigh behind her, and turned to see an incredibly familiar man in front of her. She blinked a few times, trying to will the sense of familiarity into something more tangible.

However, she couldn't place who he was. She felt her brain tense up, working overtime as if she had just forgotten something really important.

The guy looked like he was getting ready for some sort of medieval cosplay. His upper body was covered in a sharp intricately designed brigandine, while his sinewy legs where clad in black leather pants and knee high leather boots. Sarah's subconscious noted how ridiculously tight the pants seemed to be…

Gathering her wits, and trying to forget her aching head, and prickling of fear, Sarah muttered, "Just _who_ are you, and where the hell am I?"

The man's mismatched eyes seemed to lite up at her rude questioning, " _I_ am someone you have troubled greatly, in the past and, currently, in the present."

"What are you talking _about…_ " Sarah struggled with an expletive to use.

The man chuckled, the deep sound echoing somehow around her,

Sarah pulled her shoulder back and her spine taller, trying to gain some perspective, or maybe just height, on the crazed man before her. The man simply looked at her smiling, not bothered at all. This made Sarah bristle.

"Excuse me, but how did I get here," she gestured aimlessly around herself, not wanting to register too much of what she was seeing, "I'm not a piece of livestock that you can just up and grab." She couldn't remember much, but she did think that the heavy wool coat she was wearing meant she had been in a less… beach like climate. Also, that this man had something to do with her repositioning.

"Oh my dear Sarah, just because you think I'm an outrageously disconnected kidnapper doesn't mean I actually _am_ one. Technically. I mean, you _did_ eat that peach."

Sarah stared at the handsome, but completely insane, man before her. The guy was seriously missing a marble or two. Though how he knew her name was beyond her.

"You're insane, I never ate a _peach_. More importantly, I never heard of fruit consumption being a legal exchange for a human life," Sarah stated, very confused as to where this conversation was going.

"And you are forgetful it seems. A side effect I suppose."

The man suddenly began walking casually toward Sarah. Sarah took a few steps back. This whole event was becoming ridiculously dramatic, and Sarah wasn't sure if she wanted to see what Act II had to offer. Maybe she could grab her phone and dial campus safety before things escalated too much. Though she had no idea wherever the hell she was even _had_ cell service. Or what number to call. Or what campus she came from.

 _Shit._

"Oh Ms. Williams you're not going anywhere. Your memory, however, didn't seem to get the memo."

Sarah turned to start running, " _Right,_ " when she pulled her right leg up it was suddenly met with resistance. Sarah heart sped up and she turned to face her possible assailant.

"What are you doing to my legs?" she demanded, her voice cracking more than she'd liked. She suddenly couldn't feel her feet anymore.

He stopped walking himself and stared at Sarah. She swore she saw a look of surprise flit across his face. Regardless, he started speaking again after a beat, "One of many questions I'm sure you've asked yourself today, Ms. Williams."

He stared as Sarah continued to try and jerk her legs free from their invisible binding. Getting nowhere fast, Sarah looked back up at the guy. He had stopped advancing towards her and now held something in his hand, as if to offer it to her, inspecting his palm closer Sarah saw a strange glass orb dancing in his hands. Nostalgia tickled Sarah's mind as she stared, mesmerized for a moment. Her brain caught up with the site, "so you learned how to contact juggle on youtube. That's _peachy_."

He smiled deviously, like he found his impending kidnapping trial to be funny. "My I've missed that wit."

Sarah raised her eyebrow at his continuous reference to them having some sort of past together. That was until he hurled his arm back and tossed the orb directly at her face.

"What th-", in an attempt from letting the orb smash into her nose Sarah instinctively reached out and caught it.

She looked up at the man. He was nowhere to be found. Sarah thought she heard screaming off in the distance.

It was at that moment that the orb in her hands began to feel incredibly hot. Sarah looked down and saw that the opaque glass was now a cloudy purple color. It seemed as if there were actual storm clouds shifting in the orb, just waiting to break out.

A flash went off inside the orb, and Sarah dropped the thing, suddenly afraid for her life.

The orb fell with a definitive shatter, and Sarah clutched her head as her memories came pouring back in.

A/N

I'm backkkkkkkkkk.

Hey guys, I hope everyone has been doing super great in life. Spring has finally sprung where I live (albeit it was a struggle), and I finished up my super intense rotation schedule! Now, I have until late June to study for this HUGE test, BUT that's like my only life responsibility. Aka, I can actually do some writing here and there (as promised previously).

I did write an update a few weeks ago about why I didn't post this bad boy sooner. I'll leave it up for a while, if you're interested.

Regardless, you-know-who has finally made an appearance! Of course, while this is a great thing, it also is a bad thing for me XD. What i'm referring to is that, when I started posting this story, I had actually been writing here and there for a few months. While I've continued to write, I always could post something semi-regularly, since I had some stock already pre-written. I'm basically out of that stock now so... yeah. Writer's block will be more of an acute issue with updates for now.

But, enough negative stuff. Let's all be happy that an update came, I survived my academics, and summer will be here soon!


End file.
